Lineage, Inc. $LINE Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Lineage, Inc. by 3.6%, now owning approximately 9.25 million shares valued at about $542.3 million.
• Insider buying was notable, with chairman Kevin Patrick Marchetti increasing his stake by 60.70% and acquiring over 23,540 shares at an average price of $42.28.
• Analyst ratings reflect a cautious outlook, with multiple firms lowering price targets on Lineage's stock, resulting in an average rating of "Hold."

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Lineage, Inc. (NASDAQ:LINE - Free Report) by 3.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,249,127 shares of the company's stock after selling 346,275 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 4.05% of Lineage worth $542,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LINE. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Lineage during the first quarter worth $29,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in Lineage in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lineage by 170.4% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 730 shares of the company's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lineage in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Lineage in the 1st quarter worth about $74,000.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Kevin Patrick Marchetti purchased 23,540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $42.28 per share, for a total transaction of $995,271.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 62,323 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,635,016.44. This trade represents a 60.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sudarsan V. Thattai acquired 3,563 shares of Lineage stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $42.45 per share, with a total value of $151,249.35. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 7,983 shares in the company, valued at $338,878.35. The trade was a 80.61% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 71.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on LINE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Lineage from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays reduced their price target on Lineage from $59.00 to $52.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Lineage from $64.00 to $49.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 12th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Lineage from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Lineage from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $57.40.

Lineage Stock Up 2.9%

NASDAQ LINE traded up $1.14 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $40.53. 130,802 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,023,210. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $43.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.79. Lineage, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.37 and a 12-month high of $88.00. The firm has a market cap of $9.27 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.56.

Lineage (NASDAQ:LINE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. Lineage had a negative net margin of 10.57% and a negative return on equity of 5.76%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lineage, Inc. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lineage Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 21st. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.5275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. Lineage's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -75.63%.

About Lineage

Lineage, Inc is the world's largest global temperature-controlled warehouse REIT with a network of over 480 strategically located facilities totaling over 84.1 million square feet and 3.0 billion cubic feet of capacity across countries in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Coupling end-to-end supply chain solutions and technology, Lineage partners with some of the world's largest food and beverage producers, retailers, and distributors to help increase distribution efficiency, advance sustainability, minimize supply chain waste, and, most importantly, feed the world.