Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Sets New 52-Week High After Dividend Announcement

Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $32.47 and last traded at $32.34, with a volume of 307241 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.65.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Lincoln National from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Lincoln National from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Lincoln National from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. TheStreet downgraded Lincoln National from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Lincoln National from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.90.

Lincoln National Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $29.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.39. The company has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

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

Institutional Trading of Lincoln National

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln National by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,854,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $697,825,000 after purchasing an additional 166,167 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Lincoln National by 2,107.9% in the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 4,279,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $105,703,000 after purchasing an additional 4,085,637 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lincoln National by 53.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,157,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098,532 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Lincoln National by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,127,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,383,000 after purchasing an additional 166,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lincoln National by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,068,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,785,000 after purchasing an additional 107,769 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.81% of the company’s stock.

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.