Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Reduces Position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 21.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,300 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $1,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new position in Lincoln National in the first quarter valued at about $8,828,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln National during the first quarter worth approximately $43,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in Lincoln National by 43.5% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 2,788 shares during the last quarter. Arden Trust Co increased its stake in Lincoln National by 11.2% in the first quarter. Arden Trust Co now owns 16,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $226,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln National

In other Lincoln National news, EVP Sean Woodroffe sold 55,127 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.57, for a total value of $1,795,486.39. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,457,165.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LNC shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Lincoln National from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Lincoln National from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Lincoln National from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Lincoln National from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Lincoln National from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.90.

Lincoln National Price Performance

Lincoln National stock opened at $31.97 on Monday. Lincoln National Co. has a one year low of $20.85 and a one year high of $33.33. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $30.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.61. The company has a market cap of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.85.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.27. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 19.50% and a net margin of 11.31%. The company had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Lincoln National Co. will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.63%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.