American Century Companies Inc. Sells 4,490 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 3.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 121,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,490 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.48% of Lakeland Financial worth $7,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Choreo LLC increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 17.7% during the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 13,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 2,087 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 7,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 24.8% in the 2nd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 65,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,013,000 after buying an additional 12,975 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 529 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Lakeland Financial from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kyra E. Clark sold 420 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $494,641.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Lakeland Financial news, CAO Brok A. Lahrman sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.91, for a total value of $28,597.65. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,834.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Kyra E. Clark sold 420 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $494,641.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,635 shares of company stock valued at $914,604. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

LKFN opened at $67.13 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.54 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.09. Lakeland Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $45.59 and a twelve month high of $73.22.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 23.70% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The firm had revenue of $68.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 25th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 25th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 53.04%.

About Lakeland Financial

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.