Lincoln National Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:LNC)

Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors acquired 12,425 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 285% compared to the typical volume of 3,225 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LNC. UBS Group upped their price objective on Lincoln National from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Lincoln National from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Lincoln National from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. TheStreet cut Lincoln National from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Lincoln National from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lincoln National presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.60.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

Shares of LNC stock opened at $30.89 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a PE ratio of -6.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.81. Lincoln National has a 52-week low of $18.50 and a 52-week high of $32.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $28.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.13. Lincoln National had a positive return on equity of 20.81% and a negative net margin of 6.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln National will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.83%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio is currently -36.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Owen Ryan bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.90 per share, for a total transaction of $259,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $259,000. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln National

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Lincoln National by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,688,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $584,943,000 after buying an additional 1,094,789 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Lincoln National by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,034,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $284,253,000 after buying an additional 222,904 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Lincoln National by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,443,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $414,674,000 after buying an additional 1,628,081 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Lincoln National by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,313,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $131,188,000 after buying an additional 585,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Lincoln National by 249.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,420,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,811,000 after buying an additional 3,155,232 shares in 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.