Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Buys 753 Shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI raised its stake in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,359 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 753 shares during the quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $896,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LAMR. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,248,660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $567,632,000 after purchasing an additional 119,068 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,640,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $352,752,000 after buying an additional 21,852 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,054,962 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $274,595,000 after buying an additional 90,775 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 45.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,974,848 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $263,840,000 after acquiring an additional 617,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Lamar Advertising by 6.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 90,933 shares during the period. 93.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on LAMR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Lamar Advertising from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $132.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Lamar Advertising from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Lamar Advertising from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Stock Performance

Lamar Advertising stock opened at $125.28 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $12.83 billion, a PE ratio of 35.49 and a beta of 1.53. Lamar Advertising has a 12-month low of $108.80 and a 12-month high of $139.88. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $124.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $127.93.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $579.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $583.19 million. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 30.20%. As a group, analysts expect that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.95%. Lamar Advertising’s payout ratio 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.