Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Lincoln National from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Lincoln National from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. TheStreet downgraded Lincoln National from a c rating to a d+ rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Lincoln National from an underperform rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Lincoln National from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $28.45.

Lincoln National Price Performance

LNC stock opened at $27.23 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $28.28 and a 200-day moving average of $26.23. Lincoln National has a 12-month low of $18.50 and a 12-month high of $32.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.46, a PEG ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 1.81.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.13. Lincoln National had a positive return on equity of 20.81% and a negative net margin of 6.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lincoln National will post 6.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.61%. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -36.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln National news, Director Owen Ryan purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $25.90 per share, with a total value of $259,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $259,000. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln National

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,688,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $584,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094,789 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,034,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $284,253,000 after purchasing an additional 222,904 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,443,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $414,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,628,081 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,313,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $131,188,000 after purchasing an additional 585,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Lincoln National by 249.3% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,420,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $135,811,000 after acquiring an additional 3,155,232 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln National Company 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.