Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on LAMR. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Lamar Advertising in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $132.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup cut shares of Lamar Advertising from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.00.

Lamar Advertising Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ LAMR opened at $135.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $127.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $120.57. Lamar Advertising has a twelve month low of $79.94 and a twelve month high of $139.88. The stock has a market cap of $13.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92 and a beta of 1.52.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.01 by ($0.67). Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 23.34% and a return on equity of 42.18%. The company had revenue of $565.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $564.96 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Lamar Advertising will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,708,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,517,554,000 after acquiring an additional 68,484 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 0.4% in the first quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,770,668 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $210,889,000 after purchasing an additional 7,794 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 6.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,332,586 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $159,283,000 after purchasing an additional 75,955 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $111,255,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 81.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 937,440 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $112,052,000 after purchasing an additional 420,311 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Lamar Advertising Company 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.