Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Purchases 708,584 Shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 84.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,543,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 708,584 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.91% of Lincoln National worth $48,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. M Holdings Securities Inc. bought a new position in Lincoln National during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln National during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Lincoln National by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lincoln National Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:LNC opened at $36.01 on Wednesday. Lincoln National Co. has a 52 week low of $25.80 and a 52 week high of $39.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.10. The firm has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 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 analysts expect that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About Lincoln National

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.