Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 18,796 Shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 84.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 41,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,796 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Lincoln National were worth $1,304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. increased its holdings in Lincoln National by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 6,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,566,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 23.2% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 526 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln National Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of LNC stock opened at $35.72 on Friday. Lincoln National Co. has a fifty-two week low of $25.80 and a fifty-two week high of $39.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.94. The company has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.94, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.76.

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

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.04%. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Lincoln National from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln National currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.40.

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.