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

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 27.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 286,082 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 61,815 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of Lamar Advertising worth $34,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 45.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,974,848 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $263,840,000 after acquiring an additional 617,356 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 108.3% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 905,368 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $110,220,000 after purchasing an additional 470,805 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lamar Advertising in the 4th quarter valued at $48,023,000. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 631.7% during the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 180,296 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,088,000 after buying an additional 155,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,423,981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $295,122,000 after buying an additional 152,575 shares in the last quarter. 93.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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 report on Friday, February 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Price Performance

Lamar Advertising stock opened at $112.46 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $122.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $126.92. Lamar Advertising has a 12 month low of $108.80 and a 12 month high of $139.88. The company has a market capitalization of $11.52 billion, a PE ratio of 31.86 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.74. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 30.20%. The business had revenue of $579.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $583.19 million. Analysts expect that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

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

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.