Advisors Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Lincoln National Corporation $LNC

Key Points

• Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Lincoln National Corporation by 2.0% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 10,569 shares, bringing its total ownership to 541,592 shares valued at approximately $19.45 million.
• Lincoln National recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, set to be paid on November 3rd, representing an annualized dividend of $1.80 with a yield of 4.3%.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Lincoln National with an average rating of "Hold" and a price target ranging around $39.70, amid varying insights from different financial institutions.

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC - Free Report) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 541,592 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,569 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.32% of Lincoln National worth $19,449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 11,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $418,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted its stake in Lincoln National by 4.7% during the first quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 7,329 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management boosted its stake in Lincoln National by 18.1% during the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 2,301 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp boosted its stake in Lincoln National by 5.9% during the first quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 7,154 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Lincoln National by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 9,236 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.81% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John Christopher Kennedy sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.29, for a total transaction of $196,450.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 123,815 shares in the company, valued at $4,864,691.35. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln National from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Cfra Research raised shares of Lincoln National to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Lincoln National in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $39.45.

Lincoln National Stock Down 4.7%

Shares of NYSE LNC traded down $1.93 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.32. The stock had a trading volume of 882,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,936,461. The business's 50 day moving average is $38.71 and its 200-day moving average is $35.35. The company has a market cap of $7.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.85, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.48. Lincoln National Corporation has a 52 week low of $27.58 and a 52 week high of $43.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $4.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. Lincoln National had a net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 19.14%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Lincoln National Corporation will post 7.69 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. Lincoln National's dividend payout ratio is 31.41%.

About Lincoln National

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.