Advisors Asset Management Inc. Purchases 995 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 107,745 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $19,762,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 431.0% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 113.9% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 261 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AMT shares. 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. Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $228.79.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT stock opened at $213.17 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $192.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $205.61. The stock has a market cap of $99.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.95, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The firm 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 141.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About American Tower

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.