Cetera Investment Advisers Sells 420 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Cetera Investment Advisers lowered its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 420 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $1,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LKFN. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 130.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 50,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,320,000 after purchasing an additional 28,851 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position 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 valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. Sippican Capital Advisors lifted its position 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 valued at $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 764,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,545,000 after purchasing an additional 18,247 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lakeland Financial news, Director M Scott Welch purchased 5,000 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $61.40 per share, for a total transaction of $307,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 39,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,394,600. This trade represents a 14.71% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.94, for a total transaction of $92,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $384,709.34. This represents a 19.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 2.7%

Lakeland Financial stock opened at $59.68 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $57.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 0.58. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $50.00 and a 12-month high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $90.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.54 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 21.74%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 25th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LKFN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Lakeland Financial from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Lakeland Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th.

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.