GSA Capital Partners LLP Invests $765,000 in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired 12,864 shares of Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) valued at approximately $765,000, representing about 0.05% ownership.
• Insider transactions include Director Melinda Jo Truex purchasing 8,309 shares, increasing her ownership by 101.35%, while CFO Lisa M. O'Neill sold 2,500 shares, reducing her position by 6.78%.
• Lakeland Financial recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50, with an annualized yield of 3.2%, following a positive earnings report that exceeded analysts' expectations.

GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 12,864 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $765,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP owned approximately 0.05% of Lakeland Financial as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter worth $23,111,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 107,765 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 100,001 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Lakeland Financial by 132.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 134,495 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,248,000 after purchasing an additional 76,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Lakeland Financial by 9,426.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 64,492 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,833,000 after acquiring an additional 63,815 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LKFN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Lakeland Financial from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $68.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Monday, July 28th.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:LKFN traded down $0.93 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $61.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 43,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 173,487. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $50.00 and a 1 year high of $78.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $62.44 and a 200-day moving average of $61.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 16.64 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $63.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.02 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 22.55% and a return on equity of 13.57%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 25th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 25th. Lakeland Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 54.50%.

Insider Activity

In other Lakeland Financial news, CFO Lisa M. O'neill sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.72, for a total transaction of $166,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,292,899.52. This represents a 6.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Melinda Jo Truex acquired 8,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $60.11 per share, with a total value of $499,453.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,507 shares in the company, valued at $992,235.77. The trade was a 101.35% 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 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.