Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Shares Bought by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 187.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,017 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 72.2% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $138,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 215.2% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 15,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after acquiring an additional 10,685 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $222,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 75,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,911,000 after acquiring an additional 10,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 33,337.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 2,667 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total value of $36,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,527.50. The trade was a 9.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director M Scott Welch bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $61.40 per share, with a total value of $307,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,394,600. The trade was a 14.71 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Lakeland Financial stock opened at $61.38 on Thursday. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $57.45 and a 12-month high of $78.61. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $66.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.96.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 21.74% and a return on equity of 13.31%. Analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Saturday, January 25th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 55.10%.

Lakeland Financial 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.