Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) Stock Holdings Lessened by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 520,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 48,890 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.31% of Lincoln National worth $16,506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its holdings in Lincoln National by 2.6% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 66,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after purchasing an additional 1,688 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 4.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,373,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,322,000 after buying an additional 152,622 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $535,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln National by 89.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 95,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,149,000 after buying an additional 45,086 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln National by 7.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,309,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,281,000 after acquiring an additional 223,129 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LNC shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $42.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Lincoln National from $36.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.91.

Lincoln National Stock Up 1.6 %

Lincoln National stock opened at $29.97 on Tuesday. Lincoln National Co. has a twelve month low of $25.80 and a twelve month high of $39.85. The stock has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.56. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $35.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.04. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 17.76%. As a group, analysts expect that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.01%. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.79%.

Lincoln National Company Profile

Lincoln National Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates multiple insurance and retirement businesses in the United States. It operates in four segments: Life Insurance, Annuities, Group Protection, and Retirement Plan Services. The Life Insurance segment provides life insurance products, including term insurance, universal life insurance (UL), indexed universal life insurance, variable universal life insurance (VUL), linked-benefit UL and VUL products, and critical illness and long-term care riders.