New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 6,500 Shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 90,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,500 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.05% of Lincoln National worth $2,858,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LNC. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 535.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Lincoln National by 95.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Lincoln National in the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Lincoln National during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 459.9% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,711 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on LNC. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Lincoln National from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.40.

Lincoln National Price Performance

LNC opened at $39.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.12, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Lincoln National Co. has a 12-month low of $25.60 and a 12-month high of $39.85. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.25.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.04. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 17.76%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.62%. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is currently 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.