Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 184,567 Shares of Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR - Free Report) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,310,125 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 184,567 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 12.02% of Lamar Advertising worth $1,400,646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Lamar Advertising by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 655,886 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $74,627,000 after buying an additional 52,876 shares in the last quarter. Twin City Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 13.8% during the first quarter. Twin City Private Wealth LLC now owns 20,060 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,282,000 after acquiring an additional 2,430 shares during the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising during the first quarter worth $2,844,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 100.8% during the first quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 41,039 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,669,000 after acquiring an additional 20,602 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 0.3% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 45,464 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,173,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 93.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAMR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded Lamar Advertising from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $114.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Lamar Advertising from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $134.20.

Lamar Advertising Stock Performance

Shares of LAMR traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $121.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 595,240 shares, compared to its average volume of 620,215. Lamar Advertising Company has a 1-year low of $99.84 and a 1-year high of $139.88. The stock has a market cap of $12.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.22 and a beta of 1.36. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $122.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $579.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $580.72 million. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 41.85% and a net margin of 19.72%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising Company will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.