Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Stake Boosted by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Free Report) by 27.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 286,082 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 61,815 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.28% of Lamar Advertising worth $34,828,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LAMR. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising in the third quarter worth $25,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lamar Advertising during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 58.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 293 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Lamar Advertising by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 450 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LAMR. Citigroup increased their target price on Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $134.60.

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Lamar Advertising Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LAMR traded up $2.58 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $115.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 644,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 450,739. The company has a market capitalization of $11.87 billion, a PE ratio of 32.84 and a beta of 1.53. Lamar Advertising has a fifty-two week low of $108.80 and a fifty-two week high of $139.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $121.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $126.68.

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

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.35%. This is an increase from Lamar Advertising's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Lamar Advertising's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.