Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Stock Position Boosted by Sippican Capital Advisors

Sippican Capital Advisors grew its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 445 shares during the quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors owned about 0.08% of Lakeland Financial worth $1,332,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $10,560,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 29.5% during 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 during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 130.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 50,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,320,000 after buying an additional 28,851 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,276,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,154,000 after buying an additional 27,556 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 3.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 902,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,801,000 after buying an additional 27,214 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Monday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total value 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. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 4,150 shares of company stock worth $305,327 over the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $68.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.79 and a beta of 0.69. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $57.45 and a 1-year high of $78.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $70.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.88.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, January 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is presently 49.87%.

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.