Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reiterates “Moderate Buy” Rating for Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC)

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC)‘s stock had its “moderate buy” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $43.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 25.72% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on LNC. National Bank Financial set a $45.00 target price on Lincoln National in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Mizuho began coverage on Lincoln National in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Lincoln National from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln National presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.38.

Lincoln National Price Performance

Shares of LNC opened at $34.20 on Thursday. Lincoln National has a fifty-two week low of $27.58 and a fifty-two week high of $46.82. The company has a market capitalization of $6.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $4.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. Lincoln National had a return on equity of 18.52% and a net margin of 6.46%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lincoln National will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP James Waltman Reid sold 3,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.81, for a total transaction of $127,520.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 118,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,957,286.27. This represents a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder National Life Insuranc Lincoln acquired 2,254,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $11.09 per share, with a total value of $25,002,249.74. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,784,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,508,130.98. This represents a 29.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 21,050 shares of company stock valued at $734,041 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln National

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lincoln National by 6.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,903,720 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $802,717,000 after buying an additional 1,183,934 shares in the last quarter. Bain Capital Prairie LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lincoln National during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $835,360,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,233,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $277,574,000 after acquiring an additional 502,600 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,199,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $214,504,000 after acquiring an additional 40,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,952,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $240,051,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035,505 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

About Lincoln National

Lincoln National Corporation, doing business as Lincoln Financial Group, is a diversified financial services holding company focused on providing retirement, insurance, and wealth management solutions in the United States and select international markets. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, the company operates through several business segments, including Retirement Plan Services, Life Insurance, and Group Protection. Its offerings are designed to help individuals, families, and institutions plan and prepare for their financial futures.

The Retirement Plan Services segment delivers recordkeeping, administrative services, and investment management for defined contribution and defined benefit plans.