Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.03 EPS

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 23.70% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The firm had revenue of $106.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ LKFN traded down $1.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $62.87. The stock had a trading volume of 105,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 113,827. Lakeland Financial has a one year low of $47.63 and a one year high of $73.22. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.04 and a beta of 0.65.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Lakeland Financial from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kyra E. Clark sold 420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.93, for a total transaction of $28,950.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $494,641.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Lakeland Financial news, SVP Kyra E. Clark sold 420 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.93, for a total value of $28,950.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $494,641.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.42, for a total transaction of $52,336.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $625,938.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 13,635 shares of company stock valued at $914,604. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by 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.