Stocks · Financial Services · Insurance - Life
Lincoln National Corporation LNC
$40.30 +1.43% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $7.72B
Inexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Nov 5, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $11.76, up 104.9% year over year.
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 9 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +12.3%).
- The shares trade at 3.4× trailing earnings, lower than 88% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Financial Services sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth40Weak
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 47%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 11%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 3%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 7%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 16%
Quality53Neutral
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 6%
- Gross marginBottom 33%
- Operating marginBottom 32%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 9%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 24%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 16%
- Interest coverTop 15%
Value92Exceptional
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 3%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 7%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 1%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 2%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 12%
Momentum42Weak
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 50%
- 6-month returnTop 28%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 35%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 33%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 48%
Revisions76Positive
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 22%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 11%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 44%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 46%
Stability38Weak
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 20%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 47%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 22%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 16%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 1.6% | 7.2% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 25.7% | 104.9% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 25.7% | 57.5% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 7.2% | 14.6% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 5.2% | -6.9% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 7.2% | 1.6% | ↑ | Top 47% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 104.9% | 25.7% | ↑ | Top 11% |
| Gross margin | 57.5% | 25.7% | ↑ | Bottom 33% |
| Operating margin | 14.6% | 7.2% | ↑ | Bottom 32% |
| Net margin | 12.2% | 6.3% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -6.9% | 5.2% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 20.9% | — | Top 6% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -1.3% | — | Bottom 7% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- -0.56×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- 0.9%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.0%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -11.2 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -1.04×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 8.8×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 3.34%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.35%
- Shareholder yield
- 3.69%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +8.8%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +4.8%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 30, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 9
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +12.3%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +4.1%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $46.00
- Target vs current price
- +14.1%
- Analysts with a rating
- 28
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 43%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | +14.3% | +11.1% | +13.2% | +4.6% | — |
| May 7, 2026 | +5.1% | -4.5% | -9.4% | -9.5% | +22.5% |
| Feb 12, 2026 | +18.8% | +5.6% | +4.2% | -15.4% | -7.0% |
| Oct 30, 2025 | +10.9% | +1.6% | +1.9% | +3.3% | +2.1% |
| Jul 31, 2025 | +23.6% | +11.4% | +15.3% | +24.1% | +15.1% |
| May 8, 2025 | +3.9% | -1.8% | +1.5% | -3.5% | +11.6% |
| Feb 6, 2025 | +2.1% | +5.9% | +15.3% | +6.0% | -1.9% |
| Oct 31, 2024 | +25.6% | +3.5% | +9.7% | +5.5% | +5.2% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | $2.24 | $1.96 | +14.3% | $4.93B |
| May 7, 2026 | $1.66 | $1.58 | +5.1% | $5.31B |
| Feb 12, 2026 | $2.21 | $1.86 | +18.8% | $4.89B |
| Oct 30, 2025 | $2.04 | $1.84 | +10.9% | $4.59B |
| Jul 31, 2025 | $2.36 | $1.91 | +23.6% | $4.07B |
| May 8, 2025 | $1.60 | $1.54 | +3.9% | $4.69B |
| Feb 6, 2025 | $1.91 | $1.87 | +2.1% | $5.08B |
| Oct 31, 2024 | $2.06 | $1.64 | +25.6% | $3.51B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 3.4× | 5.7× | 13th | Top 3% |
| P/E (forward) | 5.1× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 1.4× | — | — | Top 1% |
| EV / Sales | 0.23× | — | — | Top 2% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -17.21% | — | — | Bottom 7% |
| Earnings yield | 29.18% | — | — | Top 3% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 2.0× – 24.6× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +0.5%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +104.9%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -41.1%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 61
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +2.7%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +0.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -7.0%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +2.2%
- RSI (14)
- 37.4
- Relative volume
- 1.02×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 35.2%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 32th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.99
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.46
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -14.3%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -29.9%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 3, 2021 | May 12, 2023 | -74.9% | 382 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jun 4, 2021 | Jul 19, 2021 | -19.9% | 30 days | 49 days (Sep 27, 2021) |
| Dec 4, 2020 | Jan 29, 2021 | -16.9% | 37 days | 14 days (Feb 19, 2021) |
| Oct 23, 2020 | Oct 28, 2020 | -11.7% | 3 days | 4 days (Nov 3, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $7.72B
- P/E (TTM)
- 3.4
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $11.76
- Revenue (TTM)
- $19.36B
- Dividend yield
- 5.58%
- 52-week range
- $32.18 – $47.67
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $17.61B | $18.93B | $11.71B | $17.99B | $18.21B |
| Gross profit | $3.90B | $2.43B | $50.0M | $4.60B | $10.44B |
| Operating income | $4.64B | $1.73B | -$1.15B | $4.02B | $1.34B |
| Net income | $3.78B | $1.36B | -$752.0M | $3.27B | $1.18B |
| EPS (diluted) | $7.43 | $7.78 | -$4.92 | $18.41 | $5.84 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.20B | $5.08B | $4.72B | $4.07B | $4.59B | $4.92B | $5.31B | $4.54B |
| Net income | -$528.0M | $1.69B | -$722.0M | $699.0M | $445.0M | $754.0M | -$172.0M | $1.33B |
| EPS (diluted) | -$3.29 | $9.63 | -$4.41 | $3.81 | $2.12 | $3.80 | -$0.88 | $6.72 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | -$217.0M | $3.61B | -$2.07B | -$2.01B | -$167.0M |
| Capital expenditure | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Free cash flow | -$217.0M | $3.61B | -$2.07B | -$2.01B | -$167.0M |
| Dividends paid | -$319.0M | -$310.0M | -$305.0M | -$307.0M | -$325.0M |
| Net share buybacks | -$1.10B | -$550.0M | $0 | $0 | $825.0M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $52.32B
- Total assets
- $429.80B
- Total liabilities
- $418.45B
- Total debt
- $6.87B
- Net debt
- -$3.30B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $11.35B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 30, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 9, 2026 | $0.45 | Nov 2, 2026 |
| Jul 10, 2026 | $0.45 | Aug 3, 2026 |
| Apr 10, 2026 | $0.45 | May 1, 2026 |
| Jan 12, 2026 | $0.45 | Feb 2, 2026 |
| Oct 10, 2025 | $0.45 | Nov 3, 2025 |
| Jul 10, 2025 | $0.45 | Aug 1, 2025 |
| Apr 10, 2025 | $0.45 | May 1, 2025 |
| Jan 10, 2025 | $0.45 | Feb 3, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 12,142,574
- Days to cover
- 6.45
- Change vs previous report
- -12.1%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jun 22, 1999
- 2-for-1
- Jun 28, 1993
- 2-for-1
- Feb 1, 1984
- 2-for-1