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 research note released on Monday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Lincoln National from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Lincoln National from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Lincoln National from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Lincoln National from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, TheStreet cut Lincoln National from a c rating to a d+ rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $28.45.

Lincoln National Price Performance

NYSE LNC opened at $27.23 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a PE ratio of -5.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 1.81. Lincoln National has a 52 week low of $18.50 and a 52 week high of $32.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.23.

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

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Lincoln National

In other Lincoln National news, Director Owen Ryan purchased 10,000 shares of Lincoln National stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.90 per share, for a total transaction of $259,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $259,000. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln National

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Lincoln National by 4.2% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $456,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln National by 7.1% in the first quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 4,626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Security Financial Services INC. raised its holdings in Lincoln National by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Security Financial Services INC. now owns 8,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Vident Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Lincoln National by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Vident Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its holdings in Lincoln National by 0.3% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 162,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,192,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

About Lincoln National

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.