Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Shares Bought by Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. increased its stake in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 15.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,999 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 43.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,693,447 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $141,352,000 after acquiring an additional 512,182 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Lamar Advertising by 2.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,441,668 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $120,336,000 after purchasing an additional 39,292 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,009,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $84,259,000 after buying an additional 6,314 shares during the last quarter. Makaira Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 31.7% during the third quarter. Makaira Partners LLC now owns 756,662 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $63,159,000 after purchasing an additional 182,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 23.7% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 600,059 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,128,000 after purchasing an additional 115,006 shares during the period. 93.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Lamar Advertising

In other news, CFO Jay Lecoryelle Johnson sold 5,000 shares of Lamar Advertising stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.97, for a total transaction of $594,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,189,700. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 14.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Lamar Advertising from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Lamar Advertising from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lamar Advertising from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th.

Lamar Advertising Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of LAMR stock opened at $117.50 on Thursday. Lamar Advertising has a 1 year low of $77.21 and a 1 year high of $121.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a PE ratio of 24.23 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $114.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.52.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $555.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $549.84 million. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 41.88% and a net margin of 23.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Lamar Advertising will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.43%. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 107.22%.

Lamar Advertising Company 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.