Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Shares Sold by Public Sector Pension Investment Board

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lowered its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned about 0.21% of Lakeland Financial worth $3,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LKFN. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Lakeland Financial by 40.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $776,000 after buying an additional 3,417 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 150.4% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 4,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 2,898 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 41.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 82,428 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,368,000 after purchasing an additional 24,030 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 40.3% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 15,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $992,000 after purchasing an additional 4,371 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 29.5% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 250,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,289,000 after purchasing an additional 56,928 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of LKFN stock opened at $73.42 on Wednesday. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $57.45 and a 12-month high of $78.61. The company has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.31.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 22.85%. The company had revenue of $106.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is currently 49.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In other Lakeland Financial news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $290,986.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,386,912.50. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of Lakeland Financial 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $625,938.56. The trade was a 7.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 4,950 shares of company stock valued at $357,663. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.