Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC - Free Report) by 91.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,208 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 78,560 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.'s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln National by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,460 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Lincoln National by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,199 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. increased its position in Lincoln National by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 6,610 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln National by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,500 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Lincoln National by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,394 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,566,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LNC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Lincoln National from $36.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Lincoln National from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln National has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $36.82.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

LNC traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $32.37. 1,286,483 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,640,417. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $33.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.42. Lincoln National Co. has a 1-year low of $27.58 and a 1-year high of $39.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 18.47% and a net margin of 17.76%. Lincoln National's revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Lincoln National's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.