Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Price Target Cut to $31.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) had its price objective decreased by Bank of America from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln National from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $31.18.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

NYSE LNC opened at $31.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.26 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.84. The company’s fifty day moving average is $31.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.07. Lincoln National has a 52-week low of $20.85 and a 52-week high of $33.33.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. Lincoln National had a net margin of 11.31% and a return on equity of 19.50%. Equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln National will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.63%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Sean Woodroffe sold 55,127 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.57, for a total transaction of $1,795,486.39. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,457,165.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln National

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LNC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lincoln National in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,026,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln National by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,688,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $584,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094,789 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,649,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln National in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,350,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 2,549.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 719,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,413,000 after buying an additional 692,637 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln National Company Profile

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.