Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the five analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $132.60.

LAMR has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

Lamar Advertising Trading Up 3.1%

LAMR traded up $3.55 on Wednesday, reaching $118.39. 60,872 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 504,036. Lamar Advertising has a one year low of $99.84 and a one year high of $139.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.13. The company has a market cap of $12.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.54 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.06. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 30.20%. The company had revenue of $505.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $509.72 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. This is a positive change from Lamar Advertising's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.24%. Lamar Advertising's dividend payout ratio is presently 150.49%.

Institutional Trading of Lamar Advertising

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LAMR. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising in the third quarter worth $323,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 39.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 51,503 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $7,017,000 after acquiring an additional 14,672 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 6.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,497,702 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $200,093,000 after acquiring an additional 90,933 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 761 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising in the fourth quarter worth $337,000. 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.