Easterly Investment Partners LLC Buys New Stake in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 91,616 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $12,240,000. Easterly Investment Partners LLC owned about 0.09% of Lamar Advertising at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Lamar Advertising by 25.6% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,628 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Lamar Advertising by 5.2% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 11,630 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,389,000 after buying an additional 576 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its position in Lamar Advertising by 1.4% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 76,647 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $9,152,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Lamar Advertising by 17.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,115 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,566,000 after buying an additional 1,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Lamar Advertising by 1.3% in the first quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 63,479 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $7,580,000 after buying an additional 793 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.78% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on LAMR shares. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup lowered shares of Lamar Advertising from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $122.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lamar Advertising from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Lamar Advertising in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $132.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $125.00.

Lamar Advertising Stock Down 4.7 %

Shares of Lamar Advertising stock traded down $6.41 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $128.58. 1,099,061 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 404,327. Lamar Advertising has a 1 year low of $91.20 and a 1 year high of $139.88. The stock's fifty day moving average is $131.75 and its 200 day moving average is $122.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $13.15 billion, a PE ratio of 26.08 and a beta of 1.52.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 42.18% and a net margin of 23.34%. The company had revenue of $565.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $564.96 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lamar Advertising will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. This is a positive change from Lamar Advertising's previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. Lamar Advertising's dividend payout ratio is 113.59%.

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.