Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 165 Shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,724 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $2,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Lamar Advertising by 71.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 22,229 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,970,000 after buying an additional 9,232 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 9.5% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Lamar Advertising during the third quarter worth $25,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings 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 worth $13,026,000 after buying an additional 47,746 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 4.7% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 40,901 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,464,000 after acquiring an additional 1,840 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAMR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective 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. dropped their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Stock Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ:LAMR opened at $112.55 on Friday. Lamar Advertising has a one year low of $108.80 and a one year high of $139.88. 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 company has a market cap of $11.52 billion, a PE ratio of 31.88 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.99.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $579.57 million for 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, research analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.51%. This is a boost from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio is 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.