Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN – Get Rating) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,187 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $963,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd owned about 0.05% of Lakeland Financial as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 515,314 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,618,000 after acquiring an additional 9,371 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 472,553 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,870,000 after acquiring an additional 3,747 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 369,458 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,971,000 after acquiring an additional 7,777 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $21,921,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 234,055 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $18,757,000 after buying an additional 22,811 shares during the last quarter. 80.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Lisa M. O'neill sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total value of $76,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 25,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,956,831.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Lakeland Financial news, Director Robert E. Bartels, Jr. purchased 755 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $67.29 per share, with a total value of $50,803.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,213 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,763,872.77. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Lisa M. O'neill sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.98, for a total transaction of $76,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 25,420 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,956,831.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 4.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of LKFN opened at $80.02 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a PE ratio of 21.00 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $70.62 and a 200 day moving average of $74.00. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $62.44 and a 52-week high of $85.71.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 15.27% and a net margin of 40.50%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 25th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. Lakeland Financial's payout ratio is 41.99%.

About Lakeland Financial

(Get Rating)

Lakeland Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Lake City Bank that provides various banking products and services. The company accepts various deposit products, such as noninterest bearing, interest-bearing checking, savings, money market, NOW, and demand deposits. Its loan products include commercial and industrial, commercial real estate and multi-family residential, agri-business and agricultural, consumer 1-4 family mortgage, and other consumer loans.

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