Bridgewater Associates LP Has $12.08 Million Stake in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC - Free Report) by 87.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 380,962 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 177,723 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP owned approximately 0.22% of Lincoln National worth $12,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LNC. M Holdings Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln National in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Lincoln National during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 182.2% in the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 1,250 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 807 shares during the period. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln National by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,500 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LNC. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $42.00 to $32.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Lincoln National from $36.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln National has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $35.91.

Lincoln National Price Performance

LNC traded up $0.81 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $30.12. 195,464 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,615,366. Lincoln National Co. has a twelve month low of $25.80 and a twelve month high of $39.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.64, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.56.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.04. Lincoln National had a net margin of 17.76% and a return on equity of 18.47%. Equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.98%. Lincoln National's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.79%.

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.