Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) Shares Sold by Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its stake in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 450 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Lincoln National by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,854,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $697,825,000 after buying an additional 166,167 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the 2nd quarter valued at $142,148,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Lincoln National by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,309,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,281,000 after purchasing an additional 223,129 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Lincoln National by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,828,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,970,000 after purchasing an additional 348,601 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Lincoln National by 1.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,249,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,966,000 after purchasing an additional 31,235 shares during the period. 72.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Lincoln National

In related news, EVP John Christopher Kennedy sold 2,863 shares of Lincoln National stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $103,068.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,644 shares in the company, valued at $3,587,184. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Lincoln National from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com raised Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln National currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.00.

Lincoln National Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of LNC opened at $35.35 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $32.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.62. Lincoln National Co. has a twelve month low of $23.14 and a twelve month high of $36.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.79.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $4.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 2.51%. Lincoln National’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Lincoln National Co. will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.09%. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio is presently 128.57%.

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.