Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.52 Per Share

Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, January 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.52 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, February 5th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 23rd. This is a 4.0% increase from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Lakeland Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. Lakeland Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 49.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Lakeland Financial to earn $3.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.3%.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $57.10 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $58.28 and a 200-day moving average of $61.86. Lakeland Financial has a 52 week low of $50.00 and a 52 week high of $71.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07 and a beta of 0.73.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $69.03 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $69.15 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 23.23% and a return on equity of 13.77%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on LKFN shares. Hovde Group lowered Lakeland Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $68.00 target price (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Lakeland Financial from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.67.

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.