Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Upgraded to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 target price (down from $74.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Hovde Group cut Lakeland Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Stephens set a $66.00 price target on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Lakeland Financial from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.00.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Lakeland Financial stock opened at $59.60 on Friday. Lakeland Financial has a 1 year low of $50.00 and a 1 year high of $70.80. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.42. The company has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.86 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.11. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 24.51% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The firm had revenue of $69.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $69.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lakeland Financial will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, January 25th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LKFN. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the third quarter valued at $1,523,000. Boston Trust Walden Corp acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $23,968,000. FJ Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the second quarter worth about $1,339,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 49.3% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 52,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,256,000 after purchasing an additional 17,507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TrueMark Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 504.6% during the third quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC now owns 93,375 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,995,000 after purchasing an additional 77,930 shares during the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lakeland Financial Company Profile

Lakeland Financial Corporation is a bank holding company based in Warsaw, Indiana, that operates through its principal subsidiary, Lakeland Bank. The company offers a full range of commercial and consumer banking services, including deposit products such as checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit, as well as a variety of loan offerings spanning commercial real estate, agricultural, mortgage, consumer and small-business lending.

Originally organized in 1893 as Kosciusko County State Bank, the enterprise reorganized as a bank holding company in 1984 to facilitate strategic growth and diversification.