First Eagle Investment Management LLC Purchases 11,000 Shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 531,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,000 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned about 0.31% of Lincoln National worth $16,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LNC. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Lincoln National by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. grew its position in Lincoln National by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 6,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Lincoln National by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in Lincoln National by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP grew its position in Lincoln National by 23.2% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the period. 72.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Lincoln National from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Lincoln National from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Lincoln National from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Lincoln National from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.40.

Lincoln National Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of LNC opened at $34.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Lincoln National Co. has a 12-month low of $25.80 and a 12-month high of $39.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a PE ratio of 1.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.76. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.52.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.23%. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.