Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Shares Purchased by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 54.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 307,242 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 107,765 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 1.20% of Lakeland Financial worth $21,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Lakeland Financial by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 51,980 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 809.9% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $23,111,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 88,184 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,064,000 after buying an additional 3,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 4,954 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Lakeland Financial

In other Lakeland Financial news, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total transaction of $36,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,974 shares of the company's stock, valued at $329,527.50. The trade was a 9.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director M Scott Welch acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $61.40 per share, with a total value of $307,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 39,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,394,600. This represents a 14.71 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 0.7 %

LKFN stock traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $55.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 200,904 shares, compared to its average volume of 133,731. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34 and a beta of 0.64. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $50.00 and a 52-week high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.09). Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 21.74% and a return on equity of 13.31%. The company had revenue of $90.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $63.54 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. Lakeland Financial's payout ratio is 57.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of Lakeland Financial in a report on Friday, March 21st. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $66.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Lakeland Financial from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday.

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.