Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) Shares Acquired by DMC Group LLC

DMC Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC - Free Report) by 47.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,749 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,250 shares during the period. DMC Group LLC's holdings in Lincoln National were worth $925,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LNC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,876,319 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $91,208,000 after buying an additional 56,614 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln National during the fourth quarter worth about $76,951,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,543,624 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,948,000 after buying an additional 708,584 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 301.2% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,522,195 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,269,000 after buying an additional 1,142,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 53.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,258,512 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,907,000 after buying an additional 436,462 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.81% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Lincoln National

In other news, EVP Brian Kroll sold 10,075 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.10, for a total transaction of $333,482.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 48,743 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,613,393.30. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sean Woodroffe sold 43,622 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.78, for a total transaction of $1,429,929.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 154,102 shares in the company, 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. 0.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lincoln National Trading Down 0.5%

LNC traded down $0.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.08. 1,463,401 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,675,398. The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Lincoln National Corporation has a 1 year low of $27.58 and a 1 year high of $39.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $33.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.96. The firm has a market cap of $5.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.39.

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

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.28%. Lincoln National's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LNC shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.78.

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.