LKFN vs. HTLF, OFG, FBNC, SYBT, TCBK, STBA, BUSE, SRCE, EFSC, and RNST
Should you be buying Lakeland Financial stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Lakeland Financial include Heartland Financial USA (HTLF), OFG Bancorp (OFG), First Bancorp (FBNC), Stock Yards Bancorp (SYBT), TriCo Bancshares (TCBK), S&T Bancorp (STBA), First Busey (BUSE), 1st Source (SRCE), Enterprise Financial Services (EFSC), and Renasant (RNST). These companies are all part of the "regional banks" industry.
Lakeland Financial vs.
Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) and Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, community ranking and media sentiment.
Heartland Financial USA pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Lakeland Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Heartland Financial USA pays out 24.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lakeland Financial pays out 45.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Heartland Financial USA has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years and Lakeland Financial has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Heartland Financial USA is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Heartland Financial USA received 21 more outperform votes than Lakeland Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.15% of users gave Heartland Financial USA an outperform vote while only 57.28% of users gave Lakeland Financial an outperform vote.
Heartland Financial USA currently has a consensus target price of $45.33, indicating a potential upside of 44.24%. Lakeland Financial has a consensus target price of $73.00, indicating a potential upside of 33.14%. Given Heartland Financial USA's higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Heartland Financial USA is more favorable than Lakeland Financial.
Lakeland Financial has a net margin of 33.46% compared to Heartland Financial USA's net margin of 25.38%. Lakeland Financial's return on equity of 18.55% beat Heartland Financial USA's return on equity.
Heartland Financial USA has higher revenue and earnings than Lakeland Financial. Heartland Financial USA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lakeland Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Heartland Financial USA had 4 more articles in the media than Lakeland Financial. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Heartland Financial USA and 1 mentions for Lakeland Financial. Heartland Financial USA's average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat Lakeland Financial's score of 0.77 indicating that Heartland Financial USA is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Heartland Financial USA has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lakeland Financial has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.
62.3% of Heartland Financial USA shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.5% of Lakeland Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of Heartland Financial USA shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of Lakeland Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Heartland Financial USA beats Lakeland Financial on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding LKFN and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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Lakeland Financial Competitors List
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