Holderness Investments Co. Grows Position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Holderness Investments Co. lifted its position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,033 shares during the quarter. Holderness Investments Co.’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Lincoln National by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,854,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $697,825,000 after purchasing an additional 166,167 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the second quarter valued at approximately $142,148,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Lincoln National by 59.2% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,086,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $95,985,000 after acquiring an additional 1,147,896 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Lincoln National by 14.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,828,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,970,000 after purchasing an additional 348,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Lincoln National by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,249,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,966,000 after purchasing an additional 31,235 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on LNC. Bank of America lowered their target price on Lincoln National from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Lincoln National from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Lincoln National in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.64.

Lincoln National Price Performance

Lincoln National stock opened at $31.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. Lincoln National Co. has a one year low of $20.85 and a one year high of $36.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.37, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 1.81. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $31.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.45.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.07. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 12.24%. The business had revenue of $5.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln National Co. will post 5.74 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.62%.

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.