Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Price Target to $31.00

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $36.00 to $31.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

LNC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Lincoln National from $42.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Lincoln National from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.91.

Lincoln National Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE LNC opened at $29.52 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Lincoln National has a one year low of $25.80 and a one year high of $39.85. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $35.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a PE ratio of 1.61, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.56.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, analysts predict that Lincoln National will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.10%. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.79%.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln National

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LNC. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lincoln National during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. M Holdings Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Lincoln National during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in Lincoln National in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Lincoln National during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lincoln National during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors 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.