Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) Holdings Cut by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its stake in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC - Free Report) by 20.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 201,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 51,120 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.12% of Lincoln National worth $6,394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,227,993 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $196,244,000 after buying an additional 79,955 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 4.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,373,487 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $106,322,000 after acquiring an additional 152,622 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lincoln National by 7.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,309,453 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $104,281,000 after purchasing an additional 223,129 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Lincoln National by 9.7% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,355,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $74,206,000 after purchasing an additional 207,800 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Lincoln National during the 4th quarter valued at $54,189,000. Institutional investors own 72.81% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. 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 note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.45.

Lincoln National Trading Down 10.3 %

Shares of Lincoln National stock traded down $3.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $29.90. The stock had a trading volume of 3,647,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,566,998. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $5.10 billion, a PE ratio of 1.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.55. Lincoln National Co. has a 1 year low of $25.80 and a 1 year high of $39.85. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.12.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.04. Lincoln National had a net margin of 17.76% and a return on equity of 18.47%. On average, research analysts expect that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.02%. Lincoln National's payout ratio is presently 9.79%.

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.