Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Receives “Market Perform” Rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $74.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $73.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 5.00% from the company’s previous close.

Lakeland Financial Stock Up 4.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ LKFN opened at $70.48 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $70.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.77. The company has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a PE ratio of 18.30 and a beta of 0.69. Lakeland Financial has a twelve month low of $57.45 and a twelve month high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 22.85%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial will post 3.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Lakeland Financial

In other news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $290,986.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,475 shares in the company, valued at $2,386,912.50. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 4,150 shares of company stock worth $305,327 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Albert D Mason Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 22,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 58.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 60.0% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 3.2% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 12,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $793,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the period. Finally, Sippican Capital Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 19,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after buying an additional 445 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.15% 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.