12,700 Shares in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Purchased by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 12,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $828,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 10,016.7% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,214 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $203,000. Revisor Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $212,000. Personal CFO Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 33.6% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 4,902 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Lakeland Financial

In other news, CEO David M. Findlay sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total value of $783,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,175 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $925,060.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO David M. Findlay sold 12,000 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,175 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $925,060.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael L. Kubacki sold 26,600 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total transaction of $1,902,166.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,846,098. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,728 shares of company stock valued at $3,670,449. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Lakeland Financial from $60.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Lakeland Financial from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LKFN traded down $0.38 on Friday, hitting $59.77. The company had a trading volume of 87,592 shares, compared to its average volume of 97,517. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $62.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.71. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $43.05 and a 1 year high of $73.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51 and a beta of 0.67.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.10. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 22.81% and a return on equity of 14.34%. The firm had revenue of $65.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $59.81 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 25th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 24th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Lakeland Financial's dividend payout ratio is 53.04%.

Lakeland Financial Company 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.