Easterly Investment Partners LLC Sells 48,645 Shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 53.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 42,971 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 48,645 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $5,231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 71.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 22,229 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,970,000 after acquiring an additional 9,232 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in Lamar Advertising by 9.5% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Lamar Advertising during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 96.0% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 97,498 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,026,000 after buying an additional 47,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 4.7% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 40,901 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,464,000 after buying an additional 1,840 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAMR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. 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 investment 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:LAMR opened at $113.98 on Thursday. 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 has a 1-year low of $108.80 and a 1-year high of $139.88. The company has a 50-day moving average of $122.82 and a 200 day moving average of $127.09. The firm has a market cap of $11.67 billion, a PE ratio of 32.29 and a beta of 1.53.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $579.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $583.19 million. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 30.20%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. This is a boost from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. 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.