Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Lincoln National Corporation has received an average analyst rating of "Hold", with two sell ratings, eight holds, and two buy ratings among twelve analysts.
• The company reported earnings of $2.36 per share for the last quarter, which exceeded the consensus estimate by $0.45, while revenue fell short of expectations at $4.04 billion.
• Lincoln National will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share on November 3rd, reflecting an annualized yield of 4.4%.

Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $39.4545.

A number of research firms have recently commented on LNC. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Lincoln National in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. National Bankshares set a $41.00 price target on shares of Lincoln National in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lincoln National from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Cfra Research raised shares of Lincoln National to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Lincoln National in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LNC opened at $41.09 on Friday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $40.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.26. Lincoln National has a 52 week low of $27.58 and a 52 week high of $43.66. The firm has a market cap of $7.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.43.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln National will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. Lincoln National's payout ratio is currently 31.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LNC. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 0.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,199,526 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $214,504,000 after buying an additional 40,676 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 1.3% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,916,661 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $170,116,000 after buying an additional 61,873 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 20.0% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,645,447 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $160,732,000 after buying an additional 774,721 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 7.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,084,433 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $110,753,000 after buying an additional 208,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Lincoln National by 16.9% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,736,180 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $94,672,000 after buying an additional 394,584 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.81% of the company's stock.

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.

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