Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Has $2.79 Million Holdings in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 27.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 33,325 shares during the period. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $2,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,876,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,208,000 after purchasing an additional 56,614 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the fourth quarter valued at about $76,951,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,543,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,948,000 after buying an additional 708,584 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Lincoln National by 301.2% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,522,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,142,759 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 53.1% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,258,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,907,000 after acquiring an additional 436,462 shares in the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

NYSE LNC opened at $34.43 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.87, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.42. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $27.58 and a twelve month high of $39.85. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.09.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 5.23%. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is presently 25.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Lincoln National from $42.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lincoln National from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price 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 investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.27.

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.