Alta Capital Management LLC Purchases 1,220 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Alta Capital Management LLC raised its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,438 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,220 shares during the quarter. Alta Capital Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $3,749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted its position in American Tower by 431.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on AMT shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.21.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $209.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $97.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $187.60 and its 200-day moving average is $206.52. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one 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.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 134.72%.

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.