Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Stake in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its position in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 821 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $2,035,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 2,107.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 4,279,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $105,703,000 after buying an additional 4,085,637 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln National by 53.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,157,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,951,000 after buying an additional 1,098,532 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln National by 26.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,960,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,409,000 after buying an additional 412,312 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 82.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,758,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,424,000 after purchasing an additional 792,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 24.6% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,468,971 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,269,000 after buying an additional 289,733 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Owen Ryan acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.90 per share, for a total transaction of $259,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $259,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LNC shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Lincoln National from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.27.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

Shares of LNC stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $29.00. 249,797 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,889,908. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.98, a PEG ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 1.80. Lincoln National Co. has a 52 week low of $18.50 and a 52 week high of $32.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $28.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.68.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.13. Lincoln National had a net margin of 11.31% and a return on equity of 19.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln National Co. will post 6.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.21%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.62%.

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.