Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Invests $291,000 in Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,557 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,527,270 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $672,890,000 after purchasing an additional 545,606 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 453.6% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 2,660,664 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $323,900,000 after purchasing an additional 2,180,011 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,114,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $257,414,000 after purchasing an additional 59,039 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,278,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $155,632,000 after purchasing an additional 428,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 5.8% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 917,833 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $104,431,000 after purchasing an additional 50,004 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Lamar Advertising Stock Up 0.4%

Lamar Advertising stock opened at $125.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.84 billion, a PE ratio of 30.44 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.57. Lamar Advertising Company has a one year low of $99.84 and a one year high of $139.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $121.51 and a 200 day moving average of $119.43.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $505.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $509.72 million. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 37.62% and a net margin of 19.08%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lamar Advertising Company will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. Lamar Advertising’s payout ratio is 150.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LAMR shares. Citigroup upgraded Lamar Advertising from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $114.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $134.00.

Lamar Advertising Company 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.