Snowden Capital Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the period. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 809.9% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 62.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LKFN opened at $61.32 on Wednesday. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $50.00 and a 1 year high of $78.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.89 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.15.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (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 return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 21.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lakeland Financial 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 value of $36,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,974 shares in the company, valued at $329,527.50. The trade was a 9.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 1,500 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $384,709.34. The trade was a 19.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LKFN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Hovde Group upgraded Lakeland Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped 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 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.