Bessemer Group Inc. Buys 41,345 Shares of Lincoln National Corporation $LNC

Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) by 25.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 203,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,345 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Lincoln National were worth $7,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bain Capital Prairie LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $835,360,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lincoln National in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $101,114,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Lincoln National by 58.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,681,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $163,922,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,835 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Lincoln National in the third quarter worth $29,831,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Lincoln National in the fourth quarter worth $31,867,000. 72.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on LNC shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Lincoln National from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings cut Lincoln National from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, National Bank Financial set a $51.00 price target on Lincoln National in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.79.

Lincoln National Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:LNC opened at $42.26 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $8.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.90, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.17. Lincoln National Corporation has a 12 month low of $32.18 and a 12 month high of $46.82. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $4.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.93 billion. Lincoln National had a net margin of 9.17% and a return on equity of 18.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lincoln National Corporation will post 7.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is 20.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln National

In other news, EVP Craigt T. Beazer sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.45, for a total transaction of $1,033,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 103,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,579,561.70. This represents a 22.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Lincoln National

Lincoln National Corporation, doing business as Lincoln Financial Group, is a diversified financial services holding company focused on providing retirement, insurance, and wealth management solutions in the United States and select international markets. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, the company operates through several business segments, including Retirement Plan Services, Life Insurance, and Group Protection. Its offerings are designed to help individuals, families, and institutions plan and prepare for their financial futures.

The Retirement Plan Services segment delivers recordkeeping, administrative services, and investment management for defined contribution and defined benefit plans.