HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Buys New Stake in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Lincoln National by 54.5% during the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 475,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,743,000 after acquiring an additional 167,764 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln National by 69.1% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 28,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 11,472 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln National by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 217,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,371,000 after purchasing an additional 53,645 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln National by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 139,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the 3rd quarter valued at $326,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on LNC shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Lincoln National from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.90.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln National

In other Lincoln National news, EVP Sean Woodroffe sold 55,127 shares of Lincoln National stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.57, for a total transaction of $1,795,486.39. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,255 shares in the company, valued at $6,457,165.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lincoln National Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:LNC opened at $31.97 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $30.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.54. Lincoln National Co. has a 52 week low of $20.85 and a 52 week high of $33.33. The company has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.26.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.27. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 19.50% and a net margin of 11.31%. The company had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Lincoln National Co. will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.63%. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is 24.62%.

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.