Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Price Target Lowered to $122.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. has reduced its target price for Lamar Advertising's stock from $125.00 to $122.00, maintaining a "neutral" rating, which indicates potential upside of 5.63% from the current price.
• In contrast, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup have shown optimism by raising their target prices for Lamar Advertising to values between $135.00 and $135.20, with Citigroup upgrading the stock to a "buy" rating.
• Lamar Advertising's stock is currently down 7.4% and its quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $2.22, exceeding expectations despite revenue slightly falling below forecasts.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Free Report) had its price objective lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $125.00 to $122.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the real estate investment trust's stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup upgraded Lamar Advertising from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lamar Advertising currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $134.20.

Lamar Advertising Price Performance

Shares of LAMR traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $121.22. The company had a trading volume of 706,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 621,575. Lamar Advertising has a twelve month low of $99.84 and a twelve month high of $139.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company's 50-day moving average is $122.41 and its 200-day moving average is $119.33. The company has a market capitalization of $12.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.19 and a beta of 1.36.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $580.72 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Lamar Advertising

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LAMR. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 18,168 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203 shares during the period. FIL Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising in the 4th quarter valued at about $935,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 270.2% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 53,312 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $6,490,000 after acquiring an additional 38,912 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,023,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 106.7% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 277 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.78% of the company's stock.

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.