Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 84,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,290,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.05% of Lincoln National at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LNC. First Merchants Corp acquired a new position in Lincoln National in the 4th quarter valued at $269,000. Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the fourth quarter worth about $3,830,000. Jump Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 73.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 306,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,569,000 after purchasing an additional 130,047 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Lincoln National by 862.6% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 116,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,882,000 after purchasing an additional 104,598 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Lincoln National by 2,107.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 4,279,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $105,703,000 after buying an additional 4,085,637 shares during the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln National

In other news, Director Owen Ryan acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.90 per share, for a total transaction of $259,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $259,000. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.75% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln National Price Performance

LNC opened at $27.30 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.26 and a quick ratio of 0.26. Lincoln National Co. has a one year low of $18.50 and a one year high of $32.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.22.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.13. Lincoln National had a positive return on equity of 20.81% and a negative net margin of 6.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln National Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.59%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is -36.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Lincoln National from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Lincoln National from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln National currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.45.

Lincoln National 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.