Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) Price Target Raised to $39.00 at Morgan Stanley

Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) had its price target boosted by Morgan Stanley from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on LNC. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Lincoln National from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lincoln National from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Lincoln National from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.40.

Lincoln National Price Performance

LNC opened at $39.09 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.70. The firm has a market cap of $6.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.13, a PEG ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.79. Lincoln National has a twelve month low of $25.60 and a twelve month high of $39.85. 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 (NYSE:LNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.91 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Lincoln National will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Lincoln National

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Lincoln National by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,227,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $196,244,000 after purchasing an additional 79,955 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Lincoln National by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,763,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $150,104,000 after purchasing an additional 193,025 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Lincoln National by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,373,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,322,000 after purchasing an additional 152,622 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Lincoln National by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,309,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,281,000 after purchasing an additional 223,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Lincoln National by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,876,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,208,000 after purchasing an additional 56,614 shares during the last quarter. 72.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.