SG Americas Securities LLC Purchases 627,466 Shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC - Free Report) by 1,818.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 661,972 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 627,466 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC owned about 0.39% of Lincoln National worth $23,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LNC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 2.0% in the 4th 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 bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter valued at $76,951,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 84.9% during the 4th 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. lifted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 301.2% during the 4th 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 lifted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 53.1% during the 4th 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 owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. 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 research report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group increased 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln National has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.82.

Insider Transactions at Lincoln National

In related news, EVP Brian Kroll sold 10,075 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,743 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,613,393.30. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sean Woodroffe sold 43,622 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.78, for a total transaction of $1,429,929.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 154,102 shares in the company, valued at $5,051,463.56. This represents a 22.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.51% of the company's stock.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

NYSE:LNC traded down $0.70 on Friday, reaching $32.43. 1,180,159 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,627,437. 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 firm has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.40. Lincoln National Co. has a 52 week low of $27.58 and a 52 week high of $39.85. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.83.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.06. Lincoln National had a net margin of 17.76% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The firm had revenue of $4.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Lincoln National's payout ratio is 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.