Boston Trust Walden Corp Has $22.13 Million Holdings in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 339,586 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 16,823 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned approximately 1.34% of Lakeland Financial worth $22,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 3.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,807,592 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $277,953,000 after purchasing an additional 128,992 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,838,241 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $133,843,000 after purchasing an additional 35,326 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 26.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,452,481 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $68,935,000 after purchasing an additional 300,747 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 27.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,308,005 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $95,484,000 after purchasing an additional 280,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 1.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 772,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,405,000 after purchasing an additional 10,045 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 1.4 %

LKFN traded down $0.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $60.75. The stock had a trading volume of 119,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 131,239. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $64.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64 and a beta of 0.67. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $43.05 and a 1-year high of $73.22.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $65.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.81 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 23.85% and a return on equity of 14.89%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 25th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Lakeland Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. Lakeland Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David M. Findlay sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total transaction of $783,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,175 shares of the company's stock, valued at $925,060.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Lisa M. O'neill sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.70, for a total transaction of $98,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 34,655 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,276,833.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David M. Findlay sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total transaction of $783,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,175 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $925,060.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 53,728 shares of company stock worth $3,670,449. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Lakeland Financial from $60.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Lakeland Financial from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th.

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.