Northern Trust Corp Raises Position in Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Lakeland Financial Corporation by 2.3%, now holding approximately 1.87% of the company's shares, valued at $28.35 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including CWM LLC and GAMMA Investing LLC, have made significant investments in Lakeland Financial, indicating strong interest in the stock.
• Lakeland Financial reported earnings of $1.04 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share with a yield of 2.9%.

Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 476,997 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 10,728 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.87% of Lakeland Financial worth $28,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Lakeland Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,795,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Lakeland Financial by 9,426.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 64,492 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,833,000 after purchasing an additional 63,815 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Lakeland Financial by 5.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 999,033 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $59,383,000 after purchasing an additional 52,753 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in Lakeland Financial by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 956,565 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $65,773,000 after buying an additional 51,624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Lakeland Financial by 42.2% during the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 107,263 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,375,000 after buying an additional 31,845 shares during the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $68.00 price target (up previously from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One 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, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.00.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:LKFN traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $66.99. 30,875 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 169,288. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.24. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a one year low of $50.00 and a one year high of $78.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.24 and a beta of 0.64.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.11. The company 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 period last year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In related news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 4,635 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total value 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. The trade was a 12.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Lisa M. O'neill sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.72, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 6.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,435 shares of company stock worth $497,769. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

About Lakeland Financial

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.