Independent Director Of Lakeland Financial Sold 40% Of Their Shares

We wouldn't blame Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Michael Kubacki, the Independent Director recently netted about US$1.9m selling shares at an average price of US$71.51. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 40%, which is notable but not too bad.

Lakeland Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Michael Kubacki was the biggest sale of Lakeland Financial shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$64.04. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$4.0m for 72.41k shares. But insiders sold 36.57k shares worth US$2.6m. Overall, Lakeland Financial insiders were net buyers during the last year. They paid about US$55.54 on average. To my mind it is good that insiders have invested their own money in the company. However, you should keep in mind that they bought when the share price was meaningfully below today's levels. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Does Lakeland Financial Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by 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. Lakeland Financial insiders own about US$52m worth of shares. That equates to 3.2% of the company. 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?

Unfortunately, there has been more insider selling of Lakeland Financial stock, than buying, in the last three months. But we take heart from prior transactions. We like that insiders own a fair amount of the company. So we're happy enough to look past some selling. 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. Be aware that Lakeland Financial is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is significant...

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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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.