Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $36.00 to $39.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Lincoln National traded as high as $39.04 and last traded at $38.94, with a volume of 1720419 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $38.38.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Lincoln National from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Lincoln National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lincoln National presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.40.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln National

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LNC. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew 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 worth $104,281,000 after acquiring an additional 223,129 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 64,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,050,000 after purchasing an additional 10,560 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln National during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,075,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 4.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,373,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,322,000 after buying an additional 152,622 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Lincoln National during the fourth quarter worth about $1,094,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln National Stock Down 0.4 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $33.32 and a 200-day moving average of $32.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.79.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.04. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 17.76%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.