Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) Short Interest Up 19.5% in March

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,680,000 shares, a growth of 19.5% from the February 28th total of 3,080,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 586,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.3 days. Approximately 4.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Lamar Advertising during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 106.7% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 277 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 58.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 293 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lamar Advertising by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Lamar Advertising from $129.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $121.76 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.60.

Lamar Advertising Stock Up 2.3 %

Lamar Advertising stock traded up $2.58 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $115.94. 644,858 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 450,739. The company has a fifty day moving average of $121.86 and a 200-day moving average of $126.75. The company has a market cap of $11.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.84 and a beta of 1.53. Lamar Advertising has a twelve month low of $108.80 and a twelve month high of $139.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.48.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $579.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $583.19 million. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 30.20%. Sell-side analysts expect that Lamar Advertising will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.55 per share. This is an increase from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.