Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Short Interest Update

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,080,000 shares, an increase of 21.7% from the February 13th total of 2,530,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.0 days. Currently, 3.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on LAMR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lamar Advertising presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:LAMR traded up $0.90 on Tuesday, hitting $114.47. 890,658 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 429,786. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $123.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $127.68. Lamar Advertising has a 52 week low of $108.80 and a 52 week high of $139.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $11.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.43 and a beta of 1.53.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.74. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 30.20% and a net margin of 16.40%. The business had revenue of $579.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $583.19 million. As a group, analysts expect that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.42%. This is an increase from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Lamar Advertising’s payout ratio is currently 175.64%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Lamar Advertising by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 9,101 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,108,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,497,702 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $200,093,000 after purchasing an additional 90,933 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Lamar Advertising by 19,961.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 110,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,741,000 after purchasing an additional 109,790 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 51,503 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,017,000 after acquiring an additional 14,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Lamar Advertising by 96.0% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 97,498 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,026,000 after purchasing an additional 47,746 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

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.