Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Invests $646,000 in OUTFRONT Media Inc. (NYSE:OUT)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System purchased a new position in shares of OUTFRONT Media Inc. (NYSE:OUT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 40,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $646,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,115,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,005,000 after buying an additional 342,413 shares during the last quarter. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC now owns 3,146,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,820,000 after buying an additional 64,072 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 7.3% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,248,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,285,000 after buying an additional 153,617 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,119,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,591,000 after purchasing an additional 159,848 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its position in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 25.7% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,005,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,368,000 after purchasing an additional 410,086 shares during the period.

OUTFRONT Media Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:OUT opened at $18.79 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $17.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.71. OUTFRONT Media Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.95 and a fifty-two week high of $19.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.60, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. OUTFRONT Media had a return on equity of 18.07% and a net margin of 5.99%. The firm had revenue of $460.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $463.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that OUTFRONT Media Inc. will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OUTFRONT Media Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. OUTFRONT Media’s payout ratio is currently 206.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OUT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of OUTFRONT Media in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price objective (up from $17.00) on shares of OUTFRONT Media in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on OUTFRONT Media from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of OUTFRONT Media in a research report on Sunday, July 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on OUTFRONT Media from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, OUTFRONT Media currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other OUTFRONT Media news, EVP Richard H. Sauer sold 29,891 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.79, for a total value of $471,978.89. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 90,945 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,021.55. The trade was a 24.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

OUTFRONT Media Profile

OUTFRONT Media, Inc leases advertising space on out-of-home advertising structures and sites. Its inventory consists of billboard displays, which are primarily located on the most heavily traveled highways & roadways, and transit advertising displays operated under exclusive multi-year contracts with municipalities in large cities across the U.S.