Legal & General Group Plc Sells 13,271 Shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 209,346 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 13,271 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $25,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 11.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 108.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 905,368 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $110,220,000 after acquiring an additional 470,805 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising during the fourth quarter worth $57,255,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lamar Advertising in the fourth quarter worth $48,023,000. Finally, Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 6.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Lamar Advertising Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ LAMR opened at $113.01 on Monday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $118.38 and a 200-day moving average of $125.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.01 and a beta of 1.34. Lamar Advertising has a 12 month low of $99.84 and a 12 month high of $139.88.

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

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This is an increase from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.49%. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 175.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.60.

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.