Brokerages Set Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) Target Price at $33.00

Shares of Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.00.

Several research firms have commented on LNC. StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln National from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 19th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Lincoln National in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $34.00 price target for the company. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th.

Lincoln National Price Performance

Shares of LNC opened at $32.77 on Friday. Lincoln National has a fifty-two week low of $20.85 and a fifty-two week high of $36.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.93. The company has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.48, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.07. Lincoln National had a net margin of 12.24% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company had revenue of $5.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Lincoln National will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.62%.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln National

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LNC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lincoln National by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,688,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $584,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094,789 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Lincoln National during the 4th quarter worth $226,000. CWM LLC raised its position in Lincoln National by 43.5% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 2,788 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Lincoln National during the 1st quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Unison Advisors LLC raised its position in Lincoln National by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 61,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,963,000 after buying an additional 1,393 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.