Vestcor Inc Decreases Position in Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Vestcor Inc trimmed its stake in Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 31.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,103 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 12,658 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $3,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,527,270 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $672,890,000 after buying an additional 545,606 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in Lamar Advertising by 453.6% during 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 buying an additional 2,180,011 shares during the period. 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 valued at $257,414,000 after acquiring an additional 59,039 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,278,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $155,632,000 after acquiring an additional 428,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 917,833 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $104,431,000 after acquiring an additional 50,004 shares during the last quarter. 93.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on LAMR shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Lamar Advertising from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $114.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lamar Advertising has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.00.

Lamar Advertising Stock Down 1.3%

NASDAQ:LAMR opened at $122.91 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $12.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83 and a beta of 1.33. Lamar Advertising Company has a twelve month low of $99.84 and a twelve month high of $139.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.52.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.60 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $509.72 million. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 19.08% and a return on equity of 37.62%. Analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising Company will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.04%. Lamar Advertising’s payout ratio is 150.49%.

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.