State of Michigan Retirement System Trims Stake in Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

State of Michigan Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,138 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $2,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,708,765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,517,554,000 after acquiring an additional 68,484 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,953,214 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $313,871,000 after acquiring an additional 727,207 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,770,668 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $210,889,000 after acquiring an additional 7,794 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Lamar Advertising in the 4th quarter worth approximately $111,255,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lamar Advertising by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,040,023 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $110,534,000 after buying an additional 30,567 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LAMR has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Lamar Advertising from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen upped their price target on Lamar Advertising from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup downgraded Lamar Advertising from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lamar Advertising from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.25.

Lamar Advertising Stock Performance

Shares of LAMR opened at $122.79 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $118.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. Lamar Advertising has a 12 month low of $77.21 and a 12 month high of $123.76. The company has a market cap of $12.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21 and a beta of 1.52.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.01 by ($0.67). The business had revenue of $565.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $564.96 million. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 23.29% and a return on equity of 41.86%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Lamar Advertising will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.56%. This is a boost from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio is presently 106.78%.

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.