Should You Buy Lincoln National Corporation (LNC)?

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are dozens of metrics market participants can use to watch Mr. Market. Some of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can beat their index-focused peers by a healthy amount (see just how much).

Equally as necessary, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. There are lots of motivations for an upper level exec to drop shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand where to look (learn more here).

Now that that’s out of the way, it’s important to discuss the recent info about Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC).

Hedge fund activity in Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC)

Heading into Q3, a total of 33 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 22% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes meaningfully.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, East Side Capital (RR Partners), managed by Steven Richman, holds the biggest position in Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC). East Side Capital (RR Partners) has a $253.2 million position in the stock, comprising 12.3% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Michael Messner of Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt), with a $72.6 million position; the fund has 4.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Sander Gerber’s Hudson Bay Capital Management.

As aggregate interest spiked, particular hedge funds have jumped into Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) headfirst. East Side Capital (RR Partners), managed by Steven Richman, initiated the most valuable position in Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC). East Side Capital (RR Partners) had 253.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Michael Messner’s Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt) also made a $72.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new LNC positions are Brian Taylor’s Pine River Capital Management, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, and Sander Gerber’s Hudson Bay Capital Management.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC)?

Insider buying made by high-level executives is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also examine the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC). These stocks are Reinsurance Group of America Inc (NYSE:RGA), Sun Life Financial Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SLF), Genworth Financial Inc (NYSE:GNW), Torchmark Corporation (NYSE:TMK), and AEGON N.V. (ADR) (NYSE:AEG). This group of stocks are the members of the life insurance industry and their market caps resemble LNC’s market cap.