Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN Shares Acquired by Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC

Key Points

• Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC significantly increased its stake in Lakeland Financial Corporation by 679.5% in Q1, owning 113,158 shares valued at approximately $6.7 million.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded their ratings for Lakeland Financial, with Hovde Group raising it to "outperform" and setting a target price of $72.00, while the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 3.0% and a payout ratio of 54.50%.

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 679.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 113,158 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 98,641 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC owned about 0.44% of Lakeland Financial worth $6,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Lakeland Financial by 13.0% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 60,794 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,614,000 after purchasing an additional 6,987 shares during the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in Lakeland Financial by 192.2% in the first quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 11,776 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 7,746 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial in the first quarter valued at about $456,000. Finally, State of Wyoming grew its stake in Lakeland Financial by 5.8% in the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,523 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company's stock.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ LKFN traded up $0.74 during trading on Friday, hitting $67.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 175,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 134,402. The company has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of 18.51 and a beta of 0.64. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $64.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.20. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $50.00 and a fifty-two week high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $63.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.02 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.57% and a net margin of 22.55%.During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 5th. Investors of record on Friday, July 25th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Lakeland Financial's payout ratio is 54.50%.

Insider Transactions at Lakeland Financial

In related news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 4,635 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total transaction of $310,869.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,165,153.74. This trade represents a 12.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Lisa M. O'neill sold 2,500 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.72, for a total value of $166,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,435 shares of company stock valued at $497,769 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $68.00 target price (up previously from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lakeland Financial currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.00.

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.