Insider Buying: The Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) Independent Director Just Bought 9.9% More Shares

Those following along with Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) will no doubt be intrigued by the recent purchase of shares by M. Welch, Independent Director of the company, who spent a stonking US$1.1m on stock at an average price of US$64.14. There's no denying a buy of that magnitude suggests conviction in a brighter future, although we do note that proportionally it only increased their holding by 9.9%.

View our latest analysis for Lakeland Financial

Lakeland Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Independent Chairman, Michael Kubacki, sold US$3.9m worth of shares at a price of US$82.79 per share. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$65.71. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 27.75k shares worth US$1.8m. But insiders sold 62.85k shares worth US$5.1m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Lakeland Financial shares, than buying. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

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Insider Ownership

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 3.3% of Lakeland Financial shares, worth about US$56m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Lakeland Financial Tell Us?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. However, the longer term transactions are not so encouraging. We don't take much heart from transactions by Lakeland Financial insiders over the last year. But they own a reasonable amount of the company, and there was some buying recently. Overall they seem reasonably aligned. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Lakeland Financial.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.