Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Has $4.84 Million Stock Position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC - Free Report) by 594.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 152,727 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 130,727 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.09% of Lincoln National worth $4,843,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LNC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln National from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $36.27.

Lincoln National Price Performance

Shares of LNC stock traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $34.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,553,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,642,605. Lincoln National Co. has a 1-year low of $27.58 and a 1-year high of $39.85. The company has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.87, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The firm's 50-day moving average is $33.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.08.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $4.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. The business's revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Lincoln National's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.57%.

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.