Private Advisor Group LLC Boosts Stake in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,121 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $1,476,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,248,660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $567,632,000 after acquiring an additional 119,068 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,640,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $352,752,000 after acquiring an additional 21,852 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,054,962 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $274,595,000 after acquiring an additional 90,775 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 45.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,974,848 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $263,840,000 after acquiring an additional 617,356 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Lamar Advertising by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,497,702 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $200,093,000 after buying an additional 90,933 shares during the last quarter. 93.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LAMR. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Lamar Advertising from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Lamar Advertising from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Lamar Advertising from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Lamar Advertising from $132.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Price Performance

LAMR stock opened at $122.59 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.55 billion, a PE ratio of 34.73 and a beta of 1.51. Lamar Advertising has a 1 year low of $108.23 and a 1 year high of $139.88.

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

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.06%. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio is currently 175.64%.

About Lamar Advertising

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.