Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

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

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on 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. decreased their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lamar Advertising

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LAMR. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake 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 during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Lamar Advertising by 6.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,497,702 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $200,093,000 after purchasing an additional 90,933 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 19,961.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 110,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,741,000 after buying an additional 109,790 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 51,503 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,017,000 after buying an additional 14,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 96.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 97,498 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,026,000 after buying an additional 47,746 shares in the last quarter. 93.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lamar Advertising Stock Performance

LAMR stock opened at $112.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $11.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.97 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. Lamar Advertising has a 1 year low of $108.80 and a 1 year high of $139.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $123.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $127.25.

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

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.49%. This is a boost from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.