Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $134.60.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LAMR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,527,270 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $672,890,000 after buying an additional 545,606 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 2.9% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,248,660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $567,632,000 after acquiring an additional 119,068 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 453.6% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 2,660,664 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $323,900,000 after acquiring an additional 2,180,011 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 0.8% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in Lamar Advertising by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,423,981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $295,122,000 after purchasing an additional 152,575 shares during the period. 93.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lamar Advertising Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ LAMR opened at $111.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $123.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.32. Lamar Advertising has a 12 month low of $108.80 and a 12 month high of $139.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48. The company has a market cap of $11.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50 and a beta of 1.53.

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

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.58%. This is an increase from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.