Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Reduces Stock Holdings in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its stake in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 610,135 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 19,833 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $74,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lamar Advertising in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 106.7% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 277 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 293 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on LAMR shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Price Performance

Shares of LAMR stock opened at $113.80 on Tuesday. Lamar Advertising has a twelve month low of $99.84 and a twelve month high of $139.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.24 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $579.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $583.19 million. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 30.20% and a net margin of 16.40%. On average, analysts predict that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.45%. This is a positive change from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Lamar Advertising’s 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.