Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Key Points

• Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Lakeland Financial Corporation by 55.1%, now owning 241,439 shares worth approximately $14.35 million.
• CFO Lisa M. O'Neill sold 2,500 shares of Lakeland Financial for $166,800, resulting in a 6.78% decrease in her ownership stake.
• Lakeland Financial reported $1.04 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.93 and showing a year-over-year increase from $0.87.

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 55.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 241,439 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 296,692 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned about 0.94% of Lakeland Financial worth $14,351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 40.5% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 631 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Lakeland Financial by 2.2% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 12,925 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $768,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its position in Lakeland Financial by 16.4% during the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,990 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in Lakeland Financial by 0.5% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 66,165 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,933,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In other news, CFO Lisa M. O'neill sold 2,500 shares of the business's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $67.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.15. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 18.30 and a beta of 0.63. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a 1-year low of $50.00 and a 1-year high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 25th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 25th. Lakeland Financial's payout ratio is currently 54.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LKFN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "market perform" rating and set a $68.00 target price (up previously from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Hovde Group upgraded shares of 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lakeland Financial presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.00.

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.

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