Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $134.60.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LAMR. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

Lamar Advertising Price Performance

Shares of LAMR opened at $108.99 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $116.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.43. Lamar Advertising has a fifty-two week low of $99.84 and a fifty-two week high of $139.88. The stock has a market cap of $11.16 billion, a PE ratio of 30.88 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $583.19 million. Analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $1.55 dividend. 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 5.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 175.64%.

Institutional Trading of Lamar Advertising

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 9,101 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,108,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 6.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,497,702 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $200,093,000 after purchasing an additional 90,933 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 39.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 51,503 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,017,000 after purchasing an additional 14,672 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,911 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $598,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

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.