9,633 Shares in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Bought by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 9,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,767,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,924,091,000 after buying an additional 635,726 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in American Tower by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in American Tower by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $975,065,000 after purchasing an additional 107,345 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $981,455,000 after purchasing an additional 38,436 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Up 1.0 %

AMT opened at $216.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $101.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $195.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $205.43. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. Research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price target on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Mizuho dropped their target price on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $229.43.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Tower Company Profile

American Tower, one of the largest global REITs, is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate with a portfolio of over 224,000 communications sites and a highly interconnected footprint of U.S. data center facilities.