Northern Trust Corp Acquires 428,744 Shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 50.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,278,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 428,744 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.25% of Lamar Advertising worth $155,632,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LAMR. FMR LLC boosted 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 valued at $672,890,000 after buying an additional 545,606 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 453.6% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 2,660,664 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $323,900,000 after buying an additional 2,180,011 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,423,981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $295,122,000 after buying an additional 152,575 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,114,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $257,414,000 after acquiring an additional 59,039 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Lamar Advertising by 6.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,497,702 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $200,093,000 after purchasing an additional 90,933 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LAMR shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Lamar Advertising from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their target price on Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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 note on Friday, February 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.60.

Lamar Advertising Price Performance

Shares of LAMR opened at $115.93 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48. The stock has a market cap of $11.87 billion, a PE ratio of 32.84 and a beta of 1.34. Lamar Advertising has a 12-month low of $99.84 and a 12-month high of $139.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.01.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.74. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 30.20%. The business had revenue of $579.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $583.19 million. Analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.35%. This is an increase from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.