In a report released today, Scott Beury from Boenning & Scattergood initiated coverage with a Hold rating on Lakeland Financial Corp (NASDAQ: LKFN). The company’s shares closed yesterday at $51, close to its 52-week high of $52.43.
Beury commented:
“We have a favorable view of Lakeland Financial Corporation’s highly efficient operating profile, strong organic growth trends, and proven credit discipline, which we suspect will benefit “buy and hold” investors as the company continues to generate elite return metrics over the long haul. The company has historically focused on generating business within its legacy markets in northern Indiana, but has used a gradual branch-based strategy to expand into larger metro areas such as Fort Wayne and, most recently, Indianapolis. Though management’s conservatism could admittedly limit the company’s ability to generate outsized earnings growth in the near-term, we believe it also provides the long-run benefits of below- industry credit costs and more effective capital deployment.”
According to TipRanks.com, Beury is a 3-star analyst with an average return of 8.6% and a 80.8% success rate. Beury covers the Financial sector, focusing on stocks such as Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, Inc., Old National Bancorp Capital, and Independent Bank Corporation.
Lakeland Financial Corp has an analyst consensus of Hold.
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Based on Lakeland Financial Corp’s latest earnings release for the quarter ending March 31, the company reported a quarterly net profit of $18.34 million. In comparison, last year the company had a net profit of $14.51 million.
Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 57 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock.
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Lakeland Financial Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of banking products and services through its wholly-owned subsidiary Lake City Bank. It includes commercial and consumer banking services, trust and wealth management, brokerage, and treasury management commercial services.
