Owen Ryan Buys 2,000 Shares of Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Stock

Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) Director Owen Ryan bought 2,000 shares of Lincoln National stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $42.17 per share, with a total value of $84,340.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 12,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $506,040. This trade represents a 20.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Lincoln National Stock Performance

NYSE:LNC traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $40.98. The stock had a trading volume of 114,850 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,880,927. Lincoln National Corporation has a twelve month low of $27.58 and a twelve month high of $43.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.15, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.26.

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.20. Lincoln National had a net margin of 6.34% and a return on equity of 19.14%. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.06 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Lincoln National Corporation will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lincoln National Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Lincoln National’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.16%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lincoln National

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LNC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lincoln National during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $87,362,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in Lincoln National during the second quarter worth $43,686,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Lincoln National by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,903,720 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $802,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,934 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Lincoln National by 25.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,730,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $231,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157,599 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Lincoln National by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,952,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $240,051,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035,505 shares during the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Lincoln National from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Lincoln National from $58.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Lincoln National in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Lincoln National from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.82.

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.