State of Wyoming Raises Stock Position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

State of Wyoming grew its holdings in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 44.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,467 shares during the period. State of Wyoming’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 64.7% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 55,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,744,000 after buying an additional 21,600 shares in the last quarter. Shay Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth $951,000. NorthRock Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth $313,000. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth $329,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 54,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,744,000 after buying an additional 8,165 shares in the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. 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. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lincoln National from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.82.

Lincoln National Trading Down 3.9%

Shares of LNC opened at $32.63 on Thursday. Lincoln National Co. has a 1-year low of $27.58 and a 1-year high of $39.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.23 and a 200 day moving average of $34.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.78, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.06. Lincoln National had a net margin of 17.76% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The company had revenue of $4.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 EPS for the current year.

About Lincoln National

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.