Have Lakeland Financial Insiders Been Selling Stock?

We wouldn't blame Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Melinda J. Truex, the Independent Director recently netted about US$1.4m selling shares at an average price of US$60.87. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 24%, which is notable but not too bad.

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Lakeland Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Melinda J. Truex was the biggest sale of Lakeland Financial shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that an insider was selling shares at below the current price (US$61.37). When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. It is worth noting that this sale was only 24% of Melinda J. Truex's holding.

Insiders in Lakeland Financial didn't buy any shares in the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

See our latest analysis for Lakeland Financial

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Does Lakeland Financial Boast High 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 3.2% of Lakeland Financial shares, worth about US$48m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Do The Lakeland Financial Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold Lakeland Financial shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. But since Lakeland Financial is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. To assist with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of 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 of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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