Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Price Target Raised to $44.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) had its price objective upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on LNC. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Lincoln National from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Lincoln National from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered Lincoln National from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Lincoln National from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on Lincoln National from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.86.

Lincoln National Price Performance

LNC stock opened at $34.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.25. Lincoln National has a 1 year low of $31.61 and a 1 year high of $46.82. The firm has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.39.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 9.17%.The business had revenue of $4.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Lincoln National will post 7.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln National news, EVP Sean Woodroffe sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.46, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 206,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,104,239.14. This trade represents a 4.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP James Waltman Reid sold 3,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.81, for a total value of $127,520.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 118,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,957,286.27. This represents a 2.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 21,050 shares of company stock valued at $734,041 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LNC. Bain Capital Prairie LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth approximately $835,360,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth approximately $101,114,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,755,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $275,304,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522,179 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 58.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,681,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $163,922,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,903,720 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $802,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,934 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

About Lincoln National

Lincoln National Corporation, doing business as Lincoln Financial Group, is a diversified financial services holding company focused on providing retirement, insurance, and wealth management solutions in the United States and select international markets. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, the company operates through several business segments, including Retirement Plan Services, Life Insurance, and Group Protection. Its offerings are designed to help individuals, families, and institutions plan and prepare for their financial futures.

The Retirement Plan Services segment delivers recordkeeping, administrative services, and investment management for defined contribution and defined benefit plans.