Klingman & Associates LLC Takes $1.77 Million Position in Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Key Points

• Klingman & Associates LLC acquired 15,539 shares of Lamar Advertising Company, valued at approximately $1.77 million, increasing institutional ownership in the stock to 93.78%.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Lamar Advertising, with Citigroup upgrading the stock to "buy" and setting a new price target of $135, while JPMorgan Chase lowered their target to $122.
• Lamar Advertising reported $2.22 earnings per share for the last quarter, significantly exceeding analysts' expectations, and announced a dividend of $1.55 per share, yielding 5.3%.

Klingman & Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 15,539 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $1,768,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Lamar Advertising by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,278,397 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $155,632,000 after buying an additional 428,744 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Lamar Advertising in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,023,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Lamar Advertising in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,699,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in Lamar Advertising by 2,424.4% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 229,422 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $27,930,000 after buying an additional 220,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 269.4% in the first quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 158,733 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $18,061,000 after acquiring an additional 115,762 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Lamar Advertising from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $114.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lamar Advertising presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $134.20.

Lamar Advertising Price Performance

Shares of LAMR stock traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $121.22. 706,928 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 597,363. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45. The firm has a market cap of $12.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.19 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $122.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $119.28. Lamar Advertising Company has a fifty-two week low of $99.84 and a fifty-two week high of $139.88.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.74. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 41.85% and a net margin of 19.72%. The firm had revenue of $579.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $580.72 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lamar Advertising Company will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Lamar Advertising 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.