Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $36.82.

LNC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lincoln National from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays raised their target price on Lincoln National from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th.

Lincoln National Price Performance

LNC stock opened at $34.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.89 billion, a PE ratio of 4.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.74. Lincoln National has a 12-month low of $27.58 and a 12-month high of $39.85.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.06. Lincoln National had a net margin of 7.00% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The firm had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. Lincoln National's revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Lincoln National will post 7.69 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.21%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Lincoln National's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lincoln National news, EVP Sean Woodroffe sold 43,622 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 154,102 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,051,463.56. This trade represents a 22.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Brian Kroll sold 10,075 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.10, for a total value of $333,482.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 48,743 shares in the company, valued at $1,613,393.30. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln National

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LNC. Hollencrest Capital Management increased its position in Lincoln National by 383.2% in the 1st quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 749 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 594 shares during the period. M Holdings Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln National during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National during the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln National in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors 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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