Empowered Funds LLC Raises Stake in Lamar Advertising Company $LAMR

Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 66.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 64,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,041 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $7,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LAMR. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 27.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,344,637 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $284,577,000 after buying an additional 510,025 shares during the last quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Lamar Advertising by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC now owns 1,338,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,431,000 after acquiring an additional 26,893 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,282,892 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $145,967,000 after purchasing an additional 4,495 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 0.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,109,668 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $126,258,000 after purchasing an additional 7,426 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 4.3% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 674,089 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,698,000 after purchasing an additional 27,823 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on LAMR shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Lamar Advertising from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $122.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lamar Advertising in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lamar Advertising currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.75.

Insider Activity at Lamar Advertising

In related news, CFO Jay Lecoryelle Johnson sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.28, for a total value of $2,734,160.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 14.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lamar Advertising Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LAMR opened at $127.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58. Lamar Advertising Company has a one year low of $99.84 and a one year high of $135.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.62 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s fifty day moving average is $122.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.12.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $585.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $584.00 million. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 41.85%. Analysts forecast that Lamar Advertising Company will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamar Advertising Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 19th were given a dividend of $1.55 per share. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 19th. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 145.54%.

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.