Could The Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) Ownership Structure Tell Us Something Useful?

If you want to know who really controls Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.

Lakeland Financial isn't enormous, but it's not particularly small either. It has a market capitalization of US$1.8b, which means it would generally expect to see some institutions on the share registry. In the chart below, we can see that institutions own shares in the company. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about Lakeland Financial.

View our latest analysis for Lakeland Financial

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Lakeland Financial?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

Lakeland Financial already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Lakeland Financial, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Lakeland Financial is not owned by hedge funds. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 7.3% of shares outstanding. With 5.2% and 4.8% of the shares outstanding respectively, Victory Capital Management Inc. and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders. Furthermore, CEO David Findlay is the owner of 0.8% of the company's shares.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 13 shareholders have a combined ownership of 52% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Lakeland Financial

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Lakeland Financial Corporation. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth US$65m. Most would see this as a real positive. Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 21% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Lakeland Financial. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Lakeland Financial (of which 1 is potentially serious!) you should know about.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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