Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Raises Holdings in Lincoln National Corporation $LNC

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) by 61.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 260,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 99,671 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.14% of Lincoln National worth $9,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Lincoln National by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 116,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,187,000 after purchasing an additional 17,721 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Lincoln National by 12.9% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $208,000 after buying an additional 662 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $348,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 53,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,923,000 after acquiring an additional 4,878 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 8,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln National Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE LNC opened at $41.19 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.19, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.23. Lincoln National Corporation has a 12-month low of $27.58 and a 12-month high of $43.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.80 billion. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 19.14% and a net margin of 6.34%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.06 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lincoln National Corporation will post 7.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on LNC shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded Lincoln National to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Lincoln National from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Lincoln National from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.82.

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.