Lincoln National (LNC) Competitors

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) and Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, risk, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in BHF or LNC?

81.2% of Brighthouse Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.8% of Lincoln National shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Brighthouse Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Lincoln National shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is BHF or LNC more profitable?

Brighthouse Financial has a net margin of 8.71% compared to Lincoln National's net margin of 7.00%. Brighthouse Financial's return on equity of 25.60% beat Lincoln National's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brighthouse Financial	8.71%	25.60%	0.54%
Lincoln National	7.00%	18.71%	0.35%

Which has higher earnings & valuation, BHF or LNC?

Lincoln National has higher revenue and earnings than Brighthouse Financial. Lincoln National is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Brighthouse Financial, 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
Brighthouse Financial	$4.72B	0.58	$388M	$8.34	5.67
Lincoln National	$18.44B	0.31	$3.28B	$7.04	4.74

Which has more risk and volatility, BHF or LNC?

Brighthouse Financial has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lincoln National has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer BHF or LNC?

Brighthouse Financial presently has a consensus target price of $60.30, suggesting a potential upside of 27.43%. Lincoln National has a consensus target price of $38.78, suggesting a potential upside of 16.10%. Given Brighthouse Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Brighthouse Financial is more favorable than Lincoln National.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brighthouse Financial	2 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.11
Lincoln National	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.89

Does the media prefer BHF or LNC?

In the previous week, Brighthouse Financial had 1 more articles in the media than Lincoln National. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Brighthouse Financial and 15 mentions for Lincoln National. Lincoln National's average media sentiment score of 0.98 beat Brighthouse Financial's score of 0.46 indicating that Lincoln National is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Brighthouse Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Lincoln National	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Brighthouse Financial beats Lincoln National on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.