Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Lowered to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on LNC. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $42.00 to $32.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.27.

Lincoln National Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:LNC traded up $0.33 on Monday, hitting $34.43. The company had a trading volume of 1,553,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,644,525. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $33.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.09. Lincoln National has a 1 year low of $27.58 and a 1 year high of $39.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.42.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.06. Lincoln National had a net margin of 17.76% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The firm had revenue of $4.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Lincoln National will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.23%. Lincoln National's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 383.2% during the first quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 749 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 594 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Lincoln National in the 1st quarter worth $33,000. M Holdings Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in Lincoln National during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Lincoln National during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. 72.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.