Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) Shares Sold by Two Sigma Investments LP

Two Sigma Investments LP trimmed its position in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 26.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,286,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 455,535 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $40,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. M Holdings Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln National during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in Lincoln National during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 182.2% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 1,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 807 shares during the period. 72.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LNC. Barclays upped their price objective on Lincoln National from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Lincoln National from $36.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Lincoln National from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.82.

Lincoln National Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LNC opened at $33.94 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.09. Lincoln National Co. has a 52 week low of $27.58 and a 52 week high of $39.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Lincoln National had a net margin of 17.76% and a return on equity of 18.47%. Lincoln National’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.30%. 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.