Saba Capital Management L.P. Lowers Holdings in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Saba Capital Management L.P. lessened its position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC - Free Report) by 40.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 252,740 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 174,377 shares during the period. Saba Capital Management L.P. owned about 0.15% of Lincoln National worth $8,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LNC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group increased their target price on Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Lincoln National from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln National has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.82.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LNC traded up $0.16 during trading on Thursday, hitting $32.78. The company had a trading volume of 463,880 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,640,254. Lincoln National Co. has a 12 month low of $27.58 and a 12 month high of $39.85. 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 has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.08.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 EPS 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 company had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current year.

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.