Alps Advisors Inc. Purchases New Shares in Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC)

Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 9,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $348,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Lincoln National by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,876,319 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $91,208,000 after purchasing an additional 56,614 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,951,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,543,624 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,948,000 after acquiring an additional 708,584 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 301.2% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,522,195 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,269,000 after acquiring an additional 1,142,759 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 53.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,258,512 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $39,907,000 after acquiring an additional 436,462 shares during the period. 72.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Lincoln National

In related news, EVP Brian Kroll sold 10,075 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.10, for a total transaction of $333,482.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 48,743 shares in the company, valued at $1,613,393.30. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sean Woodroffe sold 43,622 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.78, for a total value of $1,429,929.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 154,102 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,051,463.56. The trade was a 22.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LNC. UBS Group increased their price target on Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Lincoln National from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Lincoln National from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Lincoln National from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Lincoln National from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $38.78.

Lincoln National Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE LNC traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $34.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,589,312 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,692,412. The company has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.91, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.39. Lincoln National Corporation has a 1-year low of $27.58 and a 1-year high of $39.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $33.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.03.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 7.00%. Lincoln National's revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Lincoln National Corporation will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.21%. Lincoln National's dividend payout ratio 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.