Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) Shares to Pay Quarterly Dividend of $0.52

Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 13th. Investors of record on Sunday, October 25th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, November 5th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 23rd.

Lakeland Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Lakeland Financial has a payout ratio of 51.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Lakeland Financial to earn $4.50 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 46.2%.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

LKFN traded down $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $56.83. 70,636 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 185,433. The stock has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05 and a beta of 0.77. Lakeland Financial has a twelve month low of $54.36 and a twelve month high of $64.55. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $59.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.28.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $70.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.11 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 26.04% and a return on equity of 14.67%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Lakeland Financial will post 4.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LKFN. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lakeland Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 9th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Lakeland Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.50.

Lakeland Financial Company Profile

Lakeland Financial Corporation is the holding company for Lake City Bank, an Indiana-based community bank headquartered in Warsaw. Founded in 1872, Lake City Bank serves individuals, businesses, nonprofit organizations and municipalities throughout northern Indiana.

The bank provides a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer and commercial deposit accounts, residential and commercial loans, agricultural lending, treasury management and cash-management services.