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

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

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on LNC. Barclays boosted their price target on Lincoln National from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Lincoln National from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Lincoln National from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Lincoln National in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $34.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Lincoln National Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Lincoln National stock opened at $34.86 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.36. The company has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. Lincoln National has a 1 year low of $21.59 and a 1 year high of $36.98.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.42. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 2.51%. The business had revenue of $4.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln National will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP John Christopher Kennedy sold 2,863 shares of Lincoln National stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $103,068.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 99,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,587,184. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln National

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LNC. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 33.0% in the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 387,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,382,000 after buying an additional 96,200 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,854,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $697,825,000 after purchasing an additional 166,167 shares during the period. Ellis Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,095,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Lincoln National during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $505,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Lincoln National by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 40,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,252,000 after buying an additional 1,121 shares during the last quarter. 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.