Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 15th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Saturday, January 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48.

Lakeland Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 12.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Lakeland Financial has a payout ratio of 50.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Lakeland Financial to earn $3.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.1%.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LKFN traded down $0.34 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $68.59. 126,779 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 121,615. The company has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82 and a beta of 0.69. Lakeland Financial has a 52-week low of $57.45 and a 52-week high of $78.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $71.62 and a 200 day moving average of $67.30.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 22.85%. The business had revenue of $106.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lakeland Financial news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total value of $290,986.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,475 shares in the company, valued at $2,386,912.50. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,150 shares of company stock valued at $305,327. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

About Lakeland Financial

Lakeland Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Lake City Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, such as noninterest bearing, interest-bearing checking, savings, money market, NOW, and demand deposits.