Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Lowers Position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC - Free Report) by 53.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 279,067 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 321,145 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.16% of Lincoln National worth $8,849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LNC. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Lincoln National by 535.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,074 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 95.3% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Lincoln National in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Lincoln National during the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Lincoln National by 459.9% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 1,711 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays decreased their target price on Lincoln National from $38.00 to $36.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Lincoln National from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $33.40.

Lincoln National Stock Up 1.4 %

LNC stock traded up $0.45 on Monday, hitting $33.14. 1,263,134 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,144,820. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $33.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.24. Lincoln National Co. has a 12-month low of $25.09 and a 12-month high of $36.98. The stock has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.42. Lincoln National had a net margin of 2.51% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The firm had revenue of $4.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln National Co. will post 6.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.43%. Lincoln National's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John Christopher Kennedy sold 2,863 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $103,068.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,644 shares in the company, valued at $3,587,184. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.