Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,144,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 164,804 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.85% of Lincoln National worth $99,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LNC. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Lincoln National during the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,189,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 3,488.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 966,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,669,000 after buying an additional 939,447 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 167.7% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 600,212 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,913,000 after buying an additional 375,989 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,355,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,206,000 after buying an additional 207,800 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,763,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $150,104,000 after buying an additional 193,025 shares during the period. 72.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LNC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Lincoln National from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Lincoln National from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Lincoln National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.40.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

Lincoln National stock opened at $38.99 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $33.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.79. The company has a market capitalization of $6.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.12, a PEG ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.79. Lincoln National Co. has a fifty-two week low of $25.60 and a fifty-two week high of $39.85.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.04. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 17.76%. On average, analysts anticipate that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.