Brokerages Set Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) PT at $39.45

Shares of Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) have earned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the twelve analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.0909.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LNC. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Lincoln National in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $58.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, National Bankshares set a $53.00 price target on shares of Lincoln National in a research report on Tuesday.

Lincoln National Price Performance

Shares of Lincoln National stock opened at $39.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.26. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.89. Lincoln National has a twelve month low of $27.58 and a twelve month high of $43.66. The firm has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.43.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.45. Lincoln National had a net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 19.14%. The business had revenue of $4.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Lincoln National will post 7.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is 31.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln National news, EVP John Christopher Kennedy sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.29, for a total value of $196,450.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 123,815 shares in the company, valued at $4,864,691.35. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln National

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LNC. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 4,639.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 317,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,397,000 after buying an additional 310,677 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Vest Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National during the first quarter worth approximately $11,379,000. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 11.0% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 10,438 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $375,000 after buying an additional 1,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 4.4% during the first quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 35,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,272,000 after buying an additional 1,508 shares during the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.