StockNews.com Downgrades Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) to Sell

StockNews.com cut shares of Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Wednesday.

LNC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. 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 research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Bank of America decreased their price target on Lincoln National from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Lincoln National from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.00.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

NYSE:LNC opened at $33.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $31.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.79. Lincoln National has a 1-year low of $20.85 and a 1-year high of $36.46.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.42. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 2.51%. The firm had revenue of $4.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.23 earnings per share. Lincoln National’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Lincoln National will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is 128.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln National

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cowa LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 18,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $597,000 after acquiring an additional 1,913 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Lincoln National by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 628,329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,799,000 after purchasing an additional 30,276 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 7.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,309,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,281,000 after purchasing an additional 223,129 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National during the third quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 147.1% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 170,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,367,000 after buying an additional 101,402 shares during the period. 72.81% of the stock is currently owned by 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.