Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas Takes Position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 7,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National during the 4th quarter valued at about $54,189,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 3,488.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 966,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,669,000 after buying an additional 939,447 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Lincoln National by 49.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,150,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,892,000 after acquiring an additional 711,951 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Lincoln National by 167.7% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 600,212 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,913,000 after purchasing an additional 375,989 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 96.0% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 616,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,167,000 after purchasing an additional 301,788 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln National

In related news, EVP John Christopher Kennedy sold 2,863 shares of Lincoln National stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total value of $103,068.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,587,184. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LNC shares. Barclays lowered their price target on Lincoln National from $38.00 to $36.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Lincoln National from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Lincoln National from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Lincoln National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.40.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

Shares of LNC stock opened at $33.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $5.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.31. Lincoln National Co. has a one year low of $25.09 and a one year high of $36.98.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.42. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 2.51%. The company had revenue of $4.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lincoln National Co. will post 6.97 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.57%.

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.