NFJ Investment Group LLC Sells 11,240 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

NFJ Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 161,651 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,240 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC owned approximately 0.63% of Lakeland Financial worth $10,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $306,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $776,000 after acquiring an additional 3,417 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 150.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 4,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after acquiring an additional 2,898 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 82,428 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,368,000 after acquiring an additional 24,030 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 15,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $992,000 after acquiring an additional 4,371 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Shares of LKFN traded up $0.36 on Tuesday, hitting $74.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,415 shares, compared to its average volume of 114,561. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $68.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.24. Lakeland Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $57.45 and a fifty-two week high of $78.61. The company has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.16 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 49.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.42, for a total value of $52,336.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $625,938.56. This represents a 7.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,950 shares of company stock valued at $357,663. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.