Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Shares Sold by Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC

Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC cut its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 476,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,389 shares during the period. Lakeland Financial accounts for about 3.2% of Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $32,738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LKFN. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Lakeland Financial in the third quarter worth about $74,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Lakeland Financial by 62.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on LKFN. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on Lakeland Financial in a research note on Friday, March 21st. They set a “market perform” rating and a $66.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total transaction of $36,437.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,527.50. The trade was a 9.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director M Scott Welch acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $61.40 per share, with a total value of $307,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 39,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,394,600. This represents a 14.71 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $60.98 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.55. Lakeland Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $57.45 and a fifty-two week high of $78.61. The company has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 16.80 and a beta of 0.63.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 21.74%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. This is a boost from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.10%.

Lakeland Financial Company Profile

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.