Cetera Investment Advisers Sells 6,512 Shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Cetera Investment Advisers cut its stake in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 60,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,512 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Lincoln National were worth $1,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Lincoln National by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 6,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after buying an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LNC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln National from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln National presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.82.

Lincoln National Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:LNC opened at $34.26 on Tuesday. Lincoln National Co. has a 12 month low of $27.58 and a 12 month high of $39.85. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $33.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.42.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. Lincoln National had a net margin of 17.76% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.57%.

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.