Lincoln National Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.45 (NYSE:LNC)

Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.64%.

Lincoln National has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.7% annually over the last three years. Lincoln National has a payout ratio of 21.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Lincoln National to earn $8.35 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.6%.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

NYSE LNC traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $38.82. 1,697,711 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,608,964. Lincoln National has a 1 year low of $25.60 and a 1 year high of $39.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27. The business’s 50 day moving average is $33.67 and its 200-day moving average is $32.83. The company has a market capitalization of $6.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.79.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Lincoln National will post 7.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on LNC shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Lincoln National from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.10.

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.