Alliancebernstein L.P. Lowers Stock Position in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its position in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 123,689 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 9,560 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.12% of Lamar Advertising worth $15,058,000 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. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 108.3% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 905,368 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $110,220,000 after purchasing an additional 470,805 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Lamar Advertising in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,255,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,023,000. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,423,981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $295,122,000 after buying an additional 152,575 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 109,790 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Lamar Advertising Price Performance

Lamar Advertising stock opened at $102.35 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $119.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.99 and a beta of 1.34. 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 has a 52-week low of $100.00 and a 52-week high of $139.88.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $579.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $583.19 million. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 30.20%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.06%. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 175.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAMR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lamar Advertising presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.60.

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.