Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,873 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,769 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $7,532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,248,660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $567,632,000 after purchasing an additional 119,068 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,640,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $352,752,000 after purchasing an additional 21,852 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,423,981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $295,122,000 after purchasing an additional 152,575 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,054,962 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $274,595,000 after purchasing an additional 90,775 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 45.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,974,848 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $263,840,000 after purchasing an additional 617,356 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lamar Advertising presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Price Performance

LAMR opened at $111.19 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $123.20 and a 200 day moving average of $127.30. Lamar Advertising has a 52-week low of $108.80 and a 52-week high of $139.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48. The stock has a market cap of $11.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.50 and a beta of 1.53.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $579.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $583.19 million. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 30.20% and a net margin of 16.40%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.58%. Lamar Advertising’s payout ratio is 175.64%.

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.