Trust Investment Advisors Has $768,000 Stake in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Trust Investment Advisors lowered its holdings in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 27.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,786 shares during the quarter. Trust Investment Advisors’ holdings in Lincoln National were worth $768,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in LNC. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Lincoln National by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,034,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $284,253,000 after acquiring an additional 222,904 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Lincoln National by 20.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,443,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $414,674,000 after buying an additional 1,628,081 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Lincoln National by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,313,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $131,188,000 after buying an additional 585,977 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 249.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,420,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,811,000 after buying an additional 3,155,232 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 2,107.9% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 4,279,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $105,703,000 after acquiring an additional 4,085,637 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln National Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:LNC traded up $0.38 during trading on Thursday, hitting $27.23. 1,848,240 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,915,894. The company has a current ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $28.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.22. Lincoln National Co. has a 52 week low of $18.50 and a 52 week high of $32.43. The company has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 1.81.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.13. Lincoln National had a negative net margin of 6.46% and a positive return on equity of 20.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lincoln National Co. will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -36.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on LNC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Lincoln National from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Lincoln National from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Lincoln National from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Owen Ryan acquired 10,000 shares of Lincoln National stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.90 per share, with a total value of $259,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $259,000. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.55% of the company’s stock.

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.