Savant Capital LLC Grows Stock Position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 13.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,148 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in Lincoln National by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 27,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $728,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Lincoln National in the 4th quarter valued at $171,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 91,833 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,477,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln National during the fourth quarter valued at $157,000. Finally, Duality Advisers LP purchased a new position in Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth about $815,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln National

In related news, Director Owen Ryan bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.90 per share, for a total transaction of $259,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $259,000. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln National stock opened at $28.97 on Tuesday. Lincoln National Co. has a one year low of $18.50 and a one year high of $32.43. The company has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a PE ratio of 3.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.63.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.13. Lincoln National had a net margin of 11.31% and a return on equity of 19.50%. The business had revenue of $1.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. Research analysts expect that Lincoln National Co. will post 6.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on LNC. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Lincoln National from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Lincoln National from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet downgraded Lincoln National from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. UBS Group upped their target price on Lincoln National from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Lincoln National from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.27.

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.