Adelante Capital Management LLC Sells 7,420 Shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Adelante Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,763 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 7,420 shares during the quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC owned 0.06% of Lamar Advertising worth $7,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Lamar Advertising in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Lamar Advertising by 106.7% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 277 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Lamar Advertising by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 293 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Lamar Advertising by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Lamar Advertising by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. 93.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on LAMR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup boosted 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Stock Up 0.6 %

Lamar Advertising stock opened at $114.53 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.73 billion, a PE ratio of 32.44 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $114.20 and its 200-day moving average is $123.38. Lamar Advertising has a fifty-two week low of $99.84 and a fifty-two week high of $139.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.41%. This is a positive change from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Lamar Advertising’s dividend 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.