Public Sector Pension Investment Board Purchases 17,382 Shares of Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 27.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 80,933 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 17,382 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned approximately 0.32% of Lakeland Financial worth $4,811,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LKFN. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 40.5% in the 1st 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. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 809.9% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,085 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,990 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Lakeland Financial

In other news, CFO Lisa M. O'neill sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 34,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,292,899.52. The trade was a 6.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Lakeland Financial stock traded down $0.0290 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $63.9610. The company had a trading volume of 38,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 170,265. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43 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. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $62.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.27.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $67.02 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 was Friday, July 25th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Lakeland Financial's payout ratio is currently 54.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Hovde Group raised shares of Lakeland Financial from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $68.00 price target (up from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.