Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) Shares Sold by Savant Capital LLC

Savant Capital LLC reduced its stake in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 30.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 31,895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,723 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its stake in Lincoln National by 1,032.2% during the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 105,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,853,000 after purchasing an additional 96,434 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 33.0% in the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 387,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,382,000 after buying an additional 96,200 shares during the period. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. acquired a new position in Lincoln National during the 4th quarter worth about $2,263,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Lincoln National by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,854,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $697,825,000 after acquiring an additional 166,167 shares during the period. Finally, Crestline Management LP grew its position in Lincoln National by 75.0% in the 4th quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 105,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,832,000 after acquiring an additional 45,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on LNC shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Lincoln National from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Lincoln National from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Lincoln National from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Lincoln National from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.64.

Lincoln National Price Performance

LNC stock opened at $28.70 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.93, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.81. Lincoln National Co. has a fifty-two week low of $20.85 and a fifty-two week high of $36.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.29.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.07. Lincoln National had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The firm had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln National Co. will post 5.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.