Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) to Issue $1.55 Quarterly Dividend

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 15th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of 1.55 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, June 30th. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.31%.

Lamar Advertising has increased its dividend payment by an average of 15.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 5 consecutive years. Lamar Advertising has a dividend payout ratio of 113.8% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Lamar Advertising to earn $8.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 73.5%.

Lamar Advertising Stock Performance

Shares of Lamar Advertising stock opened at $116.87 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $112.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11 and a beta of 1.38. Lamar Advertising has a 52 week low of $99.84 and a 52 week high of $139.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.06. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 30.20%. The business had revenue of $505.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $509.72 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on LAMR. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Lamar Advertising from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lamar Advertising currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.60.

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.