Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Stake Lowered by Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. cut its position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 344,088 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,803 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 1.35% of Lakeland Financial worth $23,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LKFN. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $23,111,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $10,560,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 54.0% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 307,242 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $21,126,000 after acquiring an additional 107,765 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,940,356 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $133,419,000 after acquiring an additional 100,001 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 132.2% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 134,495 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,248,000 after purchasing an additional 76,562 shares during the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Lakeland Financial

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on LKFN shares. Hovde Group upgraded Lakeland Financial from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Lakeland Financial from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

LKFN stock traded down $0.11 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $61.16. The company had a trading volume of 2,473 shares, compared to its average volume of 137,340. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.18. The company has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85 and a beta of 0.58. Lakeland Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $50.00 and a twelve month high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last posted its 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). Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 21.74% and a return on equity of 13.31%. The business had revenue of $90.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.54 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 25th were given 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 3.27%. Lakeland Financial's payout ratio is currently 57.14%.

Lakeland Financial 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.