Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA Lowers Stock Position in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA trimmed its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 31.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,245 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,028 shares during the quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LAMR. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Lamar Advertising during the 4th quarter worth approximately $111,255,000. Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in Lamar Advertising by 97.6% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 913,833 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $98,347,000 after acquiring an additional 451,429 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Lamar Advertising in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,406,000. Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Lamar Advertising by 1,252.8% in the fourth quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 340,181 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,154,000 after acquiring an additional 315,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Lamar Advertising by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 486,192 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,672,000 after acquiring an additional 95,316 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on LAMR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lamar Advertising from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup downgraded shares of Lamar Advertising from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Lamar Advertising from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.25.

Lamar Advertising Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Lamar Advertising stock opened at $123.04 on Wednesday. Lamar Advertising has a 1 year low of $77.21 and a 1 year high of $126.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $119.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.48. The stock has a market cap of $12.59 billion, a PE ratio of 25.26 and a beta of 1.52.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.67). Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 23.34% and a return on equity of 42.18%. The firm had revenue of $565.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $564.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Lamar Advertising will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This is a boost from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.55%. Lamar Advertising’s payout ratio is presently 106.78%.

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.