Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Position in Lincoln National Corporation $LNC

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) by 291.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,942 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp owned 0.05% of Lincoln National worth $3,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bain Capital Prairie LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National during the 4th quarter worth $835,360,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Lincoln National by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,233,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $277,574,000 after purchasing an additional 502,600 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,199,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $214,504,000 after acquiring an additional 40,676 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 58.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,681,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $163,922,000 after buying an additional 1,361,835 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,959,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $131,801,000 after acquiring an additional 14,842 shares during the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LNC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut Lincoln National from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Lincoln National from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln National

In related news, EVP Craigt T. Beazer sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.45, for a total transaction of $1,033,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 103,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,579,561.70. This trade represents a 22.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

Shares of LNC stock opened at $42.26 on Monday. Lincoln National Corporation has a 12 month low of $32.18 and a 12 month high of $46.82. The stock has a market cap of $8.08 billion, a PE ratio of 4.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.58.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. Lincoln National had a net margin of 9.17% and a return on equity of 18.07%. The company had revenue of $4.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. Lincoln National’s revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Lincoln National Corporation will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is currently 20.88%.

About Lincoln National

Lincoln National Corporation, doing business as Lincoln Financial Group, is a diversified financial services holding company focused on providing retirement, insurance, and wealth management solutions in the United States and select international markets. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, the company operates through several business segments, including Retirement Plan Services, Life Insurance, and Group Protection. Its offerings are designed to help individuals, families, and institutions plan and prepare for their financial futures.

The Retirement Plan Services segment delivers recordkeeping, administrative services, and investment management for defined contribution and defined benefit plans.