California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Holdings in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 159,181 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,704 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $19,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in Lamar Advertising during the 3rd quarter valued at about $342,000. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising during the third quarter worth about $1,345,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 17.4% during the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 3,472 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lamar Advertising in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Lamar Advertising by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 12,168 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,622,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. 93.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lamar Advertising has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Stock Down 4.0 %

LAMR stock opened at $105.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.75 and a beta of 1.53. Lamar Advertising has a 12 month low of $102.95 and a 12 month high of $139.88. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $120.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.38. 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 (NASDAQ:LAMR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $579.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $583.19 million. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 30.20% and a net margin of 16.40%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 175.64%.

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.