HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 6,048 Shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 22.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 32,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,048 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $1,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LNC. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Lincoln National during the fourth quarter worth $54,189,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth $8,155,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 7.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,309,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,281,000 after purchasing an additional 223,129 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 9.7% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,355,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,206,000 after purchasing an additional 207,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Lincoln National by 119.6% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 325,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,237,000 after purchasing an additional 177,430 shares during the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Lincoln National from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays raised their target price on Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has 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, Lincoln National currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.40.

Lincoln National Price Performance

NYSE LNC opened at $37.41 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a PE ratio of 2.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.76. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.87. Lincoln National Co. has a 52 week low of $25.80 and a 52 week high of $39.85.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 EPS 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%. Research analysts predict that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.79%.

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.