Lincoln National (LNC) Competitors

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) and Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, community ranking, institutional ownership and earnings.

Is LNC or UNM a better dividend stock?

Lincoln National pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Unum Group pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Lincoln National pays out 25.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Unum Group pays out 19.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Unum Group has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Does the media refer more to LNC or UNM?

In the previous week, Unum Group had 17 more articles in the media than Lincoln National. MarketBeat recorded 37 mentions for Unum Group and 20 mentions for Lincoln National. Unum Group's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Lincoln National's score of 1.15 indicating that Unum Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lincoln National	12 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Unum Group	26 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, LNC or UNM?

Lincoln National has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unum Group has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of LNC or UNM?

72.8% of Lincoln National shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.6% of Unum Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Lincoln National shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Unum Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate LNC or UNM?

Lincoln National presently has a consensus target price of $36.82, indicating a potential upside of 11.40%. Unum Group has a consensus target price of $88.43, indicating a potential upside of 9.20%. Given Lincoln National's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lincoln National is more favorable than Unum Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lincoln National	1 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Unum Group	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.79

Which has higher valuation and earnings, LNC or UNM?

Lincoln National has higher revenue and earnings than Unum Group. Lincoln National is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Unum Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lincoln National	$18.59B	0.30	$3.28B	$7.04	4.69
Unum Group	$12.84B	1.10	$1.78B	$8.49	9.54

Is LNC or UNM more profitable?

Lincoln National has a net margin of 17.76% compared to Unum Group's net margin of 13.81%. Lincoln National's return on equity of 18.47% beat Unum Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lincoln National	17.76%	18.47%	0.34%
Unum Group	13.81%	14.91%	2.53%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in LNC or UNM?

Lincoln National received 75 more outperform votes than Unum Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 50.00% of users gave Lincoln National an outperform vote while only 47.79% of users gave Unum Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Lincoln National	Outperform Votes 486 50.00%	Underperform Votes 486 50.00%
Unum Group	Outperform Votes 411 47.79%	Underperform Votes 449 52.21%

Summary

Unum Group beats Lincoln National on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.