Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Raises Holdings in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Free Report) by 74.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,176 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 14,162 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $4,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAMR. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,527,270 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $672,890,000 after acquiring an additional 545,606 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its stake in Lamar Advertising by 453.6% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 2,660,664 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $323,900,000 after purchasing an additional 2,180,011 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $295,122,000 after purchasing an additional 152,575 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,114,001 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $257,414,000 after buying an additional 59,039 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 buying an additional 90,933 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.78% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on LAMR. 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 report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LAMR traded up $1.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $108.99. 608,723 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 488,534. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.88 and a beta of 1.34. Lamar Advertising has a 1 year low of $99.84 and a 1 year high of $139.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $116.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48.

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

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.69%. This is a boost from Lamar Advertising's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Lamar Advertising's dividend payout ratio is presently 175.64%.

Lamar Advertising 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.