Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Key Points

• Lakeland Financial Corporation announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, payable on November 5th to stockholders who are on record by October 25th, with an ex-dividend date of October 24th.
• The company has a payout ratio of 49.5%, indicating a strong coverage of its dividend by earnings, with an expected future payout ratio of 51.3% based on projected earnings of $3.90 per share.
• Shares of Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) are currently trading down 2.3% at $62.41, with analysts giving an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $70.00.

Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 14th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, October 25th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, November 5th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 24th.

Lakeland Financial has a payout ratio of 49.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Lakeland Financial to earn $3.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.3%.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:LKFN traded down $1.48 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $62.41. 14,491 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 159,913. The company's 50 day moving average is $64.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03 and a beta of 0.59. Lakeland Financial 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, 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. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.57% and a net margin of 22.55%.The firm had revenue of $63.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.02 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "market perform" rating and set a $68.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lakeland Financial has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $70.00.

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.

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