Short Interest in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Increases By 21.7%

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in 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 daily 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 Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Lamar Advertising by 2.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Lamar Advertising by 6.5% in the third 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. grew its stake in Lamar Advertising by 19,961.8% in the third 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. grew its stake in Lamar Advertising by 39.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 51,503 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $7,017,000 after purchasing an additional 14,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake 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 worth $13,026,000 after purchasing an additional 47,746 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.78% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Lamar Advertising Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of LAMR traded down $0.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $111.19. 1,209,566 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 435,355. The stock has a market cap of $11.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.50 and a beta of 1.53. The stock's 50-day moving average is $123.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.30. Lamar Advertising has a 12 month low of $108.80 and a 12 month 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.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $579.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $583.19 million. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 30.20% and a net margin of 16.40%. Research analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. This is a boost from Lamar Advertising's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.58%. Lamar Advertising's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.