Factory Mutual Insurance Co. Buys 46,200 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. increased its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 25.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 227,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,200 shares during the period. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $41,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in American Tower by 269.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its stake in American Tower by 431.0% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $184.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $86.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $190.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.61.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.23.

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.