Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Lincoln National Co. (NYSE:LNC) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on the stock from $37.00 to $40.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Lincoln National traded as high as $39.04 and last traded at $38.94, with a volume of 1720419 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $38.38.

LNC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln National

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. M Holdings Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 535.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Lincoln National by 95.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,086 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Lincoln National in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 72.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lincoln National Stock Up 1.5 %

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $33.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a PE ratio of 2.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.27.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.04. Lincoln National had a net margin of 17.76% and a return on equity of 18.47%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lincoln National Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

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.