Do Hedge Funds Love Lakeland Financial Corporation (LKFN)?

As one would reasonably expect, key money managers were breaking ground themselves. Two Sigma Advisors, led by John Overdeck and David Siegel, established the largest position in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN). Two Sigma Advisors had $0.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital also made a $0.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Mike Vranos’s Ellington.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (NASDAQ:SHEN), Petrobras Argentina SA ADR (NYSE:PZE), Barracuda Networks Inc (NYSE:CUDA), and The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to LKFN’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 11.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $72 million. That figure was $8 million in LKFN’s case. Barracuda Networks Inc (NYSE:CUDA) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Petrobras Argentina SA ADR (NYSE:PZE) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) is as less popular than PZE. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.