Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Cuts Stake in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC cut its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,720 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 125 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lamar Advertising in the third quarter worth $43,665,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Lamar Advertising by 6.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 90,933 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Lamar Advertising by 19,961.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 110,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,741,000 after acquiring an additional 109,790 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Lamar Advertising by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 51,503 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,017,000 after purchasing an additional 14,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 47,746 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAMR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Lamar Advertising from $132.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lamar Advertising from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Five 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.40.

Lamar Advertising Trading Up 2.1 %

Lamar Advertising stock opened at $127.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $13.08 billion, a PE ratio of 25.56 and a beta of 1.50. Lamar Advertising has a 12 month low of $102.10 and a 12 month high of $139.88. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $126.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $126.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.17 by ($0.73). Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 42.58% and a net margin of 23.46%. The firm had revenue of $564.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $568.91 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.04 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.38%. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.00%.

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.