First Manhattan CO. LLC. Boosts Holdings in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $3,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LAMR. FMR LLC increased its stake 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 worth $672,890,000 after purchasing an additional 545,606 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 453.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,180,011 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in 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 worth $295,122,000 after buying an additional 152,575 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,114,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $257,414,000 after buying an additional 59,039 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $200,093,000 after buying an additional 90,933 shares in the last quarter. 93.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lamar Advertising Trading Down 0.4 %

Lamar Advertising stock opened at $114.81 on Friday. Lamar Advertising has a 1 year low of $99.84 and a 1 year high of $139.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $112.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.22. 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 stock has a market cap of $11.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.52 and a beta of 1.38.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.06. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 30.20%. The company had revenue of $505.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $509.72 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $1.55 dividend. This is an increase from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Lamar Advertising’s payout ratio is currently 175.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on LAMR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Lamar Advertising from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.60.

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.