Macquarie Group Ltd. Sells 240 Shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Macquarie Group Ltd. decreased its position in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,680 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 240 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd.’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $2,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Lamar Advertising by 4.7% in the first quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,844 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $384,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its stake in Lamar Advertising by 21.7% in the first quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 2,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Lamar Advertising in the first quarter valued at about $353,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Lamar Advertising by 7.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,319,854 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,840,000 after buying an additional 92,808 shares during the period. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Lamar Advertising in the first quarter valued at about $404,000. Institutional investors own 79.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on LAMR. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Lamar Advertising from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 7th. StockNews.com lowered Lamar Advertising from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday.

Lamar Advertising Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ LAMR opened at $84.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.56 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.71, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $92.55 and its 200-day moving average is $95.63. Lamar Advertising has a one year low of $81.10 and a one year high of $111.49.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $541.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $535.00 million. Lamar Advertising had a return on equity of 34.91% and a net margin of 20.19%. Lamar Advertising’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share.

Lamar Advertising Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 18th will be given a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 15th. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio is presently 121.65%.

About Lamar Advertising

Lamar Advertising Company operates as an outdoor advertising company in North America. It operates approximately 363,000 displays across the United States and Canada. It offers advertisers a range of billboard, interstate logo, transit, and airport advertising formats helping local businesses and national brands.