Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Buys 1,577 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,577 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,940,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,419,000 after buying an additional 100,001 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 946,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $65,066,000 after buying an additional 43,312 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 807,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,526,000 after buying an additional 6,307 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 764,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,545,000 after buying an additional 18,247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $23,111,000. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on LKFN. Hovde Group upgraded Lakeland Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Lakeland Financial from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Lakeland Financial stock opened at $60.90 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 16.78 and a beta of 0.58. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $50.00 and a 52 week high of $78.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $57.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.32.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $90.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.54 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 21.74% and a return on equity of 13.31%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 25th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 25th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In related news, Director M Scott Welch purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,394,600. The trade was a 14.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 1,500 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.94, for a total value of $92,910.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $384,709.34. This represents a 19.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.