Lincoln National Corporation (LNC) is a U.S.-based financial services company primarily involved in the insurance and retirement sectors. Operating through various subsidiaries, ...
Lincoln National Corporation (LNC) is a Fortune 200 American holding company that operates multiple insurance and investment management businesses through its subsidiaries. The company markets its products under the name Lincoln Financial Group. Founded in 1905, LNC has a long history in the financial services industry and is headquartered in ...Lincoln National Corporation (LNC) is a Fortune 200 American holding company that operates multiple insurance and investment management businesses through its subsidiaries. The company markets its products under the name Lincoln Financial Group. Founded in 1905, LNC has a long history in the financial services industry and is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania. As of the latest data, the company employs approximately 11,000 people and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LNC.
Business divisions: The company operates through four key divisions: Annuities, Retirement Plan Services, Life Insurance, and Group Protection. The Annuities division offers fixed, variable, and indexed variable annuities. The Retirement Plan Services segment focuses on the defined contribution market, providing retirement solutions such as individual and group variable and fixed annuities, mutual fund-based programs, and plan administration services including recordkeeping, compliance verification, participant education, and trust and custodial support. The Life Insurance segment offers a variety of life insurance products, including term insurance, universal life products, and riders for critical illness and long-term care. The Group Protection segment provides non-medical group insurance benefits to employers, including short-term and long-term disability, statutory disability, paid family medical leave administration, absence management, and group term life, dental, vision, accident, and critical illness coverage.
Products and services: LNC's products and services are distributed through a network of consultants, brokers, planners, agents, financial advisors, third-party administrators, and other intermediaries. The company focuses on helping individuals and employers plan for their financial futures.
Financial performance: As of the latest TTM data, LNC has a market capitalization of approximately $8.8 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of around 3.8. The company's revenue per share is about $100, and it has a dividend yield of 3.9%. However, the company has negative free cash flow, which may indicate challenges in its operations.
Key people: Ellen G. Cooper serves as Chairman, President, and CEO, making history as the first female president and CEO of Lincoln Financial. The company's leadership includes a board of directors and senior management team.
History: LNC traces its roots to 1905 when The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company was founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The company was granted permission to use the name and likeness of Abraham Lincoln by his son, Robert Todd Lincoln. Over the years, LNC has grown through acquisitions and expansions, and in 2007, it moved its headquarters to Radnor, Pennsylvania.
Future outlook: LNC aims to continue providing integrated financial solutions to its clients, leveraging its strong brand and distribution network to navigate the evolving insurance and retirement landscape.
YoYYoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength.
QoQQoQ means Quarter-over-Quarter. It compares the latest quarter with the immediately previous quarter to show short-term momentum changes.
RevenueThe total money that came through the front door from selling things, before paying a single bill. Think of it as the grand total of every credit card swipe from customers. (YoY compares this year to last year's performance, while QoQ compares the current three months to the previous three).
$18.2B
+1.2%
-14.4%
Net IncomeThe absolute bottom line. If the company paid every single supplier, employee, banker, and tax collector, this is the actual money left in their pocket at the end of the day.
$1.2B
-64.1%
+874.4%
Gross MarginThe basic markup. If they sell a $100 pair of sneakers, this percentage tells you how much of that price tag is profit right after paying for the rubber and shoelaces, but before paying for things like store rent or TV commercials.
+57.3%
+124.4%
+60.9%
Operating MarginThe 'day job' efficiency score. Out of every dollar a customer spends, this shows how many cents the company keeps after making the product AND paying for all the everyday corporate overhead (like salaries, marketing, and keeping the lights on).
+7.3%
-67.1%
+880.2%
Net MarginThe final take-home percentage. When you strip away every conceivable cost, tax, and interest payment, this is the exact number of cents the company truly gets to keep from every dollar in sales.
+6.5%
-64.5%
+1004.7%
Free Cash FlowThe holy grail of corporate cash. It's the spendable, physical money left over after the business pays for its daily operations AND buys the big, expensive upgrades (like new factories or servers) it needs to survive. This is the 'free' money they can use to pay dividends or buy back stock.
$-167.0M
+91.7%
-504.3%
FCF MarginThe ultimate cash conversion rate. It shows how good the company is at turning regular sales directly into cold, hard, spendable cash. A high percentage means the business is an absolute cash-printing machine.
-0.9%
+91.8%
-572.4%
Debt / EquityThe financial risk gauge. It compares how much of the company's empire was built using borrowed money (loans) versus the owners' own money (shareholders). A high number means they are heavily leveraged and playing a riskier game; a low number means they are playing it safe.
59.0%
-23.3%
-3.0%
Current RatioThe 12-month survival check. It simply compares the cash they have right now (plus things they can quickly turn into cash) against the immediate bills they absolutely must pay this year. A score above 1 means they have enough in the wallet to cover the upcoming bills without panicking.
0.47x
-85.5%
+38.4%
Total AssetsThe absolute size of the company's empire. It bundles together absolutely everything of value they own—from the cash in the register and the inventory in the warehouse, to the software patents in the vault and the factories on the ground.
Operator: Thank you for standing by. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Lincoln Financial First Quarter 2026 Earnings Webcast. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to John Muething, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin.
John Muething: Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our first quarter earnings call. We appreciate your interest in Lincoln. Our quarterly earnings press release, earnings supplement and statistical supplement can all be found on the Investor Relations page of our website, www.lincolnfinancial.com. These documents include reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures used on today's call including adjusted income from operations and adjusted income from operations available to common stockholders or adjusted operating income to their most comparable GAAP measures. Before we begin, I want to remind you that any statements made during today's call regarding expectations, future actions, trends in our businesses, prospective services or products, future performance or financial results including those relating to deposits, expenses, income from operations, free cash flow or free cash flow conversion ratios, share repurchases, liquidity and capital resources are forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. These risks and uncertainties include those described in the cautionary statement disclosures in our earnings release issued earlier this morning as well as those detailed in our 2025 annual report on Form 10-K, most recent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and from time to time in our other filings with the SEC. These forward-looking statements are made only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to correct or update any of them to reflect events or circumstances that occur after today. Presenting this morning are Ellen Cooper, Chairman, President and CEO; and Chris Neczypor, Chief Financial Officer. After their prepared remarks, we'll address your questions. Let me now turn the call over to Ellen. Ellen?
Ellen Cooper: Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our call today. Our first quarter results reflect continued execution with adjusted operating income increasing 16%, marking our seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. This performance is the cumulative impact of the actions we have taken over the past several years to strengthen our balance sheet, build a more efficient operating model and diversify our business mix. Together, these are building the resilience that positions Lincoln for durable value creation in the years ahead. Anchoring this performance are 3 priorities that guide our strategy: fortifying our capital foundation, optimizing our operating model and driving profitable growth across our businesses. Our capital …
