Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on LNC. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Lincoln National from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Lincoln National from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Lincoln National from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.00.

Lincoln National Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of LNC stock opened at $37.90 on Friday. Lincoln National has a 1-year low of $27.58 and a 1-year high of $39.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $34.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.26 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.42.

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

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.41%.

Insider Activity at Lincoln National

In related news, EVP Brian Kroll sold 10,075 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.10, for a total value of $333,482.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 48,743 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,613,393.30. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sean Woodroffe sold 43,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.78, for a total value of $1,429,929.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 154,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,051,463.56. The trade was a 22.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 330,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,488,000 after buying an additional 41,533 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 215,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,845,000 after buying an additional 42,822 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 101,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,219,000 after buying an additional 5,834 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 20,127.5% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 316,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,051,000 after buying an additional 315,398 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lincoln National during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 72.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.