Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Has $4.22 Million Position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its stake in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 133,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,493 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Lincoln National were worth $4,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Royce & Associates LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the third quarter valued at $1,175,000. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Lincoln National by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 3,972 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 22.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 962 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln National during the third quarter worth approximately $228,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 12.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 825,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,009,000 after purchasing an additional 91,197 shares during the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Lincoln National

In other news, EVP John Christopher Kennedy sold 2,863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,587,184. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LNC has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Lincoln National from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Lincoln National from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Lincoln National in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.00.

Lincoln National Price Performance

Shares of LNC stock opened at $35.34 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.79. Lincoln National Co. has a 12-month low of $23.40 and a 12-month high of $36.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $32.92 and a 200-day moving average of $31.87.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.42. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 2.51%. The company had revenue of $4.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. Lincoln National’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln National Co. will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.09%. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

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.