Geode Capital Management LLC Has $88.23 Million Position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Geode Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,781,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 591,931 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $88,231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. M Holdings Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. raised 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 last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings 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 last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LNC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $42.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Barclays increased 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 note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.91.

Lincoln National Stock Down 9.9 %

LNC opened at $29.75 on Friday. Lincoln National Co. has a fifty-two week low of $25.80 and a fifty-two week high of $39.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company’s 50-day moving average is $35.93 and its 200 day moving average is $34.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.62, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.56.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.05%. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is 9.79%.

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.