American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Purchased by Heritage Investors Management Corp

Heritage Investors Management Corp grew its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 106,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,997 shares during the quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in American Tower were worth $19,601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 1,194 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $219,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 89.5% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 5,936 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 2,804 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Brown Financial Advisors now owns 2,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its holdings in American Tower by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 12,585 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,412 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Down 1.5 %

American Tower stock opened at $200.75 on Thursday. 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 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $186.16 and its 200-day moving average is $206.96. The company has a market cap of $93.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.70, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. American Tower’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AMT. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JMP Securities started coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank cut their target price on 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. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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.