Howe & Rusling Inc. Invests $3.51 Million in Lamar Advertising Company $LAMR

Howe & Rusling Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 28,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $3,514,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Lamar Advertising by 426.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 659,308 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $74,340,000 after acquiring an additional 533,959 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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 valued at $284,577,000 after purchasing an additional 510,025 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Lamar Advertising in the first quarter worth about $40,699,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Lamar Advertising by 181.7% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 363,949 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,410,000 after buying an additional 234,735 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 158.6% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 306,887 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,918,000 after purchasing an additional 188,213 shares during the last quarter. 93.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Lamar Advertising Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of LAMR opened at $127.37 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $122.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.12. 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 has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45. Lamar Advertising Company has a 12-month low of $99.84 and a 12-month high of $135.91.

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

Lamar Advertising Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 19th. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 145.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jay Lecoryelle Johnson sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 14.99% of the company’s stock.

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.