Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.03 EPS

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $106.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.90 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 23.70%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 2.9 %

LKFN traded down $1.88 on Friday, hitting $62.87. 105,151 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 113,827. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.20. Lakeland Financial has a one year low of $47.63 and a one year high of $73.22. The firm has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.04 and a beta of 0.65.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Lakeland Financial from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.42, for a total transaction of $52,336.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,568 shares in the company, valued at $625,938.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.42, for a total transaction of $52,336.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,568 shares in the company, valued at $625,938.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Brok A. Lahrman sold 415 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.91, for a total value of $28,597.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,739 shares in the company, valued at $119,834.49. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,635 shares of company stock worth $914,604 in the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.