Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on LNC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Lincoln National from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. TheStreet lowered shares of Lincoln National from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Lincoln National from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Lincoln National from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.45.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

NYSE LNC traded down $0.40 on Monday, reaching $27.88. 1,508,579 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,926,696. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a PE ratio of -5.59, a PEG ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 1.81. Lincoln National has a one year low of $18.50 and a one year high of $32.43.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.13. Lincoln National had a negative net margin of 6.46% and a positive return on equity of 20.81%. The company had revenue of $1.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. Analysts expect that Lincoln National will post 6.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lincoln National news, Director Owen Ryan bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.90 per share, for a total transaction of $259,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $259,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln National

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LNC. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln National by 3,930.8% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Lincoln National during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. purchased a new position in Lincoln National during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. 72.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.