VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC Makes New $53,000 Investment in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Albert D Mason Inc. raised its stake in Lakeland Financial by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 22,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,557,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Sippican Capital Advisors raised its stake in Lakeland Financial by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 19,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Lakeland Financial by 62.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Lakeland Financial by 72.2% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares during the period. 81.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Lakeland Financial stock opened at $65.59 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.85. The company has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.68. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $57.45 and a 1 year high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 21.74% and a return on equity of 13.31%. Equities analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. This is an increase from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 55.10%.

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.