Shares of Lincoln Financial Group /zigman2/quotes/205272400/composite LNC +5.89% rallied 4.0% in premarket trading Friday, after the insurer announced an agreement with Resolution Life subsidiary Security Life of Denver Insurance Co., to reinsure about $9.4 billion of executive benefit and universal life reserves. Lincoln said it expects proceeds of $1.2 billion from the deal, with $900 million of the proceeds earmarked for share repurchases to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2022. "We are pleased to announce this transaction, which we expect to be highly accretive to EPS, expand ROE and maintain our overall high-quality business mix," said Lincoln Chief Executive Dennis Glass. The stock has run up 32.3% year to date through Thursday, while the SPDR S&P Insurance ETF /zigman2/quotes/205505650/composite KIE +1.64% has gained 14.4% and the S&P 500 /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +1.46% has advanced 19.1%.


