Meyer Handelman Co. Takes Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Meyer Handelman Co. bought a new position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,248,812,000 after buying an additional 965,938 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in American Tower by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,416,004,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839,570 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 36.2% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,794,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,737,760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,336,501 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 41.8% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,243,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 8.9% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,705,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $720,206,000 after buying an additional 302,676 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of American Tower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $223.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.21.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $219.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. The company has a market cap of $102.42 billion, a PE ratio of 41.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.83. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $157.25 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $228.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $205.45.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.52). American Tower had a return on equity of 23.06% and a net margin of 21.95%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.13 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 121.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $4,953,510.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,843 shares in the company, valued at $14,223,890. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total transaction of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at $7,424,177.89. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $4,953,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,223,890. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,723 shares of company stock worth $7,795,397 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.