Foster & Motley Inc. Sells 4,611 Shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR)

Foster & Motley Inc. lessened its position in shares of Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) by 48.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,989 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,611 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Lamar Advertising were worth $530,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 43.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,693,447 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $141,352,000 after purchasing an additional 512,182 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,441,668 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $120,336,000 after acquiring an additional 39,292 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lamar Advertising by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,009,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $84,259,000 after acquiring an additional 6,314 shares during the last quarter. Makaira Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lamar Advertising by 31.7% in the third quarter. Makaira Partners LLC now owns 756,662 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $63,159,000 after purchasing an additional 182,111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in Lamar Advertising by 23.7% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 600,059 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,128,000 after purchasing an additional 115,006 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lamar Advertising

In other news, CFO Jay Lecoryelle Johnson sold 5,000 shares of Lamar Advertising stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.97, for a total value of $594,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,189,700. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 14.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lamar Advertising Trading Down 0.5 %

LAMR opened at $114.06 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $114.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.20. Lamar Advertising has a one year low of $77.21 and a one year high of $121.99. The stock has a market cap of $11.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52 and a beta of 1.50.

Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $555.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $549.84 million. Lamar Advertising had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 41.88%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lamar Advertising will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Lamar Advertising Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.56%. This is a positive change from Lamar Advertising’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. Lamar Advertising’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 107.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Lamar Advertising from $92.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com raised Lamar Advertising from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Lamar Advertising from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th.

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.