Keystone Financial Group Buys 48,969 Shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Keystone Financial Group lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 462.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 59,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,969 shares during the quarter. Keystone Financial Group’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $1,888,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lincoln National by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,309,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,281,000 after purchasing an additional 223,129 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Lincoln National by 20,127.5% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 316,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,051,000 after buying an additional 315,398 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Lincoln National by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 64,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,050,000 after buying an additional 10,560 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln National during the fourth quarter valued at $1,050,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 92.0% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 119,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,747,000 after acquiring an additional 57,152 shares in the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on LNC. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $42.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.91.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln National stock opened at $29.52 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.03 billion, a PE ratio of 1.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.56. 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 52 week low of $25.80 and a 52 week high of $39.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.08.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.10%. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.