DMC Group LLC Grows Position in Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC)

DMC Group LLC increased its stake in Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC - Free Report) by 47.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,749 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,250 shares during the quarter. DMC Group LLC's holdings in Lincoln National were worth $925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LNC. Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln National during the 1st quarter worth $348,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,784 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $208,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln National during the 1st quarter worth $5,531,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 116,594 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 17,721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 11.6% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 9,968 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.81% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln National news, EVP Brian Kroll sold 10,075 shares of Lincoln National stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.10, for a total value of $333,482.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 48,743 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,613,393.30. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Sean Woodroffe sold 43,622 shares of Lincoln National 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 154,102 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company's stock.

Lincoln National Price Performance

LNC traded down $0.18 during trading on Thursday, hitting $34.25. 2,014,673 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,677,667. The company has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a PE ratio of 4.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.39. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $33.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.89. Lincoln National Corporation has a 1 year low of $27.58 and a 1 year high of $39.85. 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 (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts' expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. Lincoln National's quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln National Corporation will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.26%. Lincoln National's payout ratio is currently 25.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on LNC. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln National from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $38.00.

Lincoln National Company 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.