Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Makes New Investment in Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 9,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,227,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $196,244,000 after acquiring an additional 79,955 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 4.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,763,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $150,104,000 after acquiring an additional 193,025 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 4.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,373,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $106,322,000 after acquiring an additional 152,622 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 7.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,309,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,281,000 after acquiring an additional 223,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 9.7% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,355,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,206,000 after acquiring an additional 207,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LNC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lincoln National presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.10.

Lincoln National Price Performance

Lincoln National stock opened at $39.11 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a PE ratio of 2.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Lincoln National Co. has a 12-month low of $25.60 and a 12-month high of $39.85.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.71 EPS for the current 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.