Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) to Buy

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $34.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $26.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Lincoln National from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Lincoln National from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Lincoln National from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lincoln National has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $29.90.

Lincoln National Stock Up 3.2 %

Lincoln National stock opened at $32.66 on Wednesday. Lincoln National has a 52 week low of $20.47 and a 52 week high of $32.90. The firm has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.80. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.27. Lincoln National had a net margin of 11.31% and a return on equity of 19.50%. The firm had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lincoln National will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.51%. Lincoln National’s payout ratio is presently 24.62%.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln National

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 48.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 20,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $655,000 after purchasing an additional 6,655 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 384.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 59,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,904,000 after acquiring an additional 47,312 shares during the period. Algebris UK Ltd boosted its position in shares of Lincoln National by 122.5% during the 1st quarter. Algebris UK Ltd now owns 861,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,582,000 after acquiring an additional 474,171 shares during the last quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the first quarter valued at about $615,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Lincoln National by 25.6% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 30,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $972,000 after purchasing an additional 6,207 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

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.