Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC Grows Stake in Lineage, Inc. $LINE

Key Points

• Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC increased its stake in Lineage, Inc. by 24.4%, owning 588,726 shares valued at approximately $25.6 million, making it the company's 21st largest holding.
• Multiple analysts have downgraded their ratings and price targets for Lineage, with Bank of America setting a new price objective of $42.00, down from $47.00.
• Lineage, Inc. declared a quarterly dividend of $0.5275 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 5.3%, with an ex-dividend date of September 30th.

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Lineage, Inc. (NASDAQ:LINE - Free Report) by 24.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 588,726 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 115,423 shares during the period. Lineage makes up about 2.5% of Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC owned about 0.26% of Lineage worth $25,621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Lineage by 132.3% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 648 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Lineage by 1.2% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 30,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,764,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lineage by 170.4% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 730 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in Lineage during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial boosted its stake in Lineage by 16.8% during the second quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 3,576 shares of the company's stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 515 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LINE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Lineage from $44.00 to $43.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Zacks Research lowered Lineage from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Bank of America reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $42.00 price objective (down from $47.00) on shares of Lineage in a research note on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Lineage from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Lineage from $49.00 to $43.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $50.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lineage

In other news, Chairman Kevin Patrick Marchetti acquired 23,540 shares of Lineage stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $42.28 per share, for a total transaction of $995,271.20. Following the acquisition, the chairman directly owned 62,323 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,635,016.44. This trade represents a 60.70% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Sudarsan V. Thattai acquired 3,563 shares of Lineage stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $42.45 per share, for a total transaction of $151,249.35. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 7,983 shares in the company, valued at $338,878.35. This trade represents a 80.61% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 39,448 shares of company stock worth $1,645,752 over the last 90 days. 71.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lineage Price Performance

Shares of LINE stock opened at $39.51 on Friday. Lineage, Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.66 and a 52-week high of $79.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.16 and a beta of -0.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.16.

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

Lineage Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.5275 per share. This represents a $2.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Lineage's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -75.63%.

Lineage Profile

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.

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