Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Sells 5,423 Shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 115,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,423 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $3,664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 3.1% during 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 buying an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. grew its stake in Lincoln National by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 6,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln National by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 20.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 436 shares during the period. 72.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LNC shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Lincoln National from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Lincoln National from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln National currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.40.

Lincoln National Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of LNC stock opened at $36.01 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $36.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.10. Lincoln National Co. has a 1-year low of $25.80 and a 1-year high of $39.85. The company 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 current ratio of 0.27 and a quick 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, research analysts expect that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 5.00%. Lincoln National’s dividend 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.