American Century Companies Inc. Buys 61,815 Shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 27.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 286,082 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,815 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $34,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Lamar Advertising Stock Performance

Shares of Lamar Advertising stock opened at $112.46 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $122.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.86 and a beta of 1.53. 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 one year low of $108.80 and a one year high of $139.88.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.74. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 30.20% and a net margin of 16.40%. The firm had revenue of $579.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $583.19 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.51%. This is a positive change from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 175.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAMR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.60.

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.