EntryPoint Capital LLC Takes Position in Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Key Points

• EntryPoint Capital LLC has acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial Corporation, purchasing 3,929 shares valued at approximately $234,000.
• Lakeland Financial reported a quarterly EPS of $1.04, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.93, and announced a dividend of $0.50 per share.
• Analysts have recently set a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Lakeland Financial, with an average target price of $70.00.

EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,929 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 40.5% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 631 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 60.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,085 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 16.4% in the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,990 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the first quarter valued at about $229,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.15% of the company's stock.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 5.3%

NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $67.56 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $63.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.21. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41 and a beta of 0.63. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $50.00 and a twelve month high of $78.61.

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

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 25th were paid 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 yield of 3.0%. Lakeland Financial's payout ratio is 54.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lakeland Financial news, CFO Lisa M. O'neill sold 2,500 shares of Lakeland Financial 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,292,899.52. The trade was a 6.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Hovde Group upgraded shares of 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 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 report on Monday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.

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