Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 257,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,155,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth $89,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,566,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth $1,050,000. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth $249,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LNC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised 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 note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays raised 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. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln National currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.40.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

Shares of LNC opened at $36.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $6.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.97, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.73. Lincoln National Co. has a 12-month low of $25.80 and a 12-month high of $39.85.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.04. Lincoln National had a net margin of 17.76% and a return on equity of 18.47%. As a group, research analysts predict that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is currently 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.