Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Stock

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) had its price objective lifted by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $42.00 to $43.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price points to a potential upside of 12.86% from the company’s previous close.

LNC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lincoln National in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $43.09.

Lincoln National Trading Down 4.5%

Shares of LNC stock opened at $38.10 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.43. Lincoln National has a 12-month low of $27.58 and a 12-month high of $43.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.89.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP John Christopher Kennedy sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.51% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln National

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LNC. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln National in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Lincoln National by 32.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 2,142 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC bought a new stake in Lincoln National in the first quarter valued at approximately $293,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Lincoln National by 141.2% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 673,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,171,000 after purchasing an additional 394,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenwood Capital Associates LLC increased its stake in Lincoln National by 5.1% in the first quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 39,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911 shares in the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.