Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Sells 37,379 Shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,086,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 37,379 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 1.22% of Lincoln National worth $66,164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LNC. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 95.3% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Lincoln National in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Lincoln National in the third quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Lincoln National in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Lincoln National by 459.9% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,711 shares in the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Lincoln National from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Lincoln National from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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 raised their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln National currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.40.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

NYSE:LNC opened at $34.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.89, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.76. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.51. 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 1-year low of $25.80 and a 1-year high of $39.85.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.04. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 17.76%. Research analysts anticipate that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued 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 yield of 5.17%. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is currently 9.79%.

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.