Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Short Interest Update

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) saw a large increase in short interest in 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. Currently, 3.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on LAMR. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of 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. dropped their price target on Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.60.

Institutional Trading of Lamar Advertising

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAMR. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,108,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in 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 valued at $200,093,000 after purchasing an additional 90,933 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 19,961.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 110,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,741,000 after purchasing an additional 109,790 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Lamar Advertising by 39.8% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $13,026,000 after buying an additional 47,746 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Lamar Advertising Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Lamar Advertising stock traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $114.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 83,668 shares, compared to its average volume of 557,285. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $11.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.48 and a beta of 1.53. Lamar Advertising has a 1-year low of $108.80 and a 1-year high of $139.88. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.60.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last announced 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 company had revenue of $579.57 million during 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Lamar Advertising’s 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.