Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Holdings in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,494,692 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 70,258 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Lamar Advertising worth $1,521,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LAMR. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 94,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,446,000 after buying an additional 9,455 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Lamar Advertising in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,569,000. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 61,873 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,532,000 after purchasing an additional 3,769 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 161.4% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 138,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,841,000 after purchasing an additional 85,422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 286,082 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,828,000 after purchasing an additional 61,815 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on LAMR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of LAMR stock opened at $112.55 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48. The firm has a market cap of $11.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.88 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $122.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $126.99. Lamar Advertising has a 12-month low of $108.80 and a 12-month high of $139.88.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $579.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $583.19 million. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 30.20% and a net margin of 16.40%. Equities analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.51%. Lamar Advertising’s payout ratio is currently 175.64%.

Lamar Advertising Profile

Lamar Advertising Company operates as an outdoor advertising company in the United States and Canada. The company owns and operates billboards, logo signs, and transit advertising displays, as well as rents space for advertising on billboards, buses, shelters, benches, logo plates, and in airport terminals.