American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Acquired by LM Advisors LLC

LM Advisors LLC boosted its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 86.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,002 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the period. LM Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after purchasing an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in American Tower by 1.9% during the third 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 buying an additional 204,426 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in American Tower by 2.1% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 107,345 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $981,455,000 after acquiring an additional 38,436 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,111,335 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $956,132,000 after acquiring an additional 224,261 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Up 2.1 %

AMT stock opened at $214.38 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.46, a PEG 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. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $198.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $205.01.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 141.37%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AMT. Wells Fargo & Company raised American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Three research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.43.

American Tower 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.