Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Given New $135.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Lamar Advertising from $125.00 to $135.00, indicating a potential upside of 9.65%.
• Citigroup also upgraded Lamar Advertising from a "neutral" to a "buy" rating, increasing their target price to $135.00.
• Lamar Advertising reported $1.60 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.54.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Free Report) had its target price hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust's stock.

Separately, Citigroup raised Lamar Advertising from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $114.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $136.00.

Lamar Advertising Price Performance

Shares of LAMR traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $124.97. The company had a trading volume of 96,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 601,172. 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 2.89, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company's 50-day moving average is $122.47 and its 200-day moving average is $119.57. The company has a market capitalization of $12.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.35 and a beta of 1.36.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.06. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 37.62% and a net margin of 19.08%. The business had revenue of $505.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $509.72 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. Lamar Advertising's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 150.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LAMR. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Lamar Advertising by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 6,907 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $841,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Lamar Advertising by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 67,119 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $8,171,000 after buying an additional 15,616 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in Lamar Advertising in the 4th quarter valued at $1,680,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lamar Advertising in the 4th quarter worth $4,266,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 431,725 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $52,558,000 after purchasing an additional 24,830 shares during the last quarter. 93.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lamar Advertising Company 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.