Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Grows Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,880 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,947,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $357,208,000 after acquiring an additional 10,343 shares in the last quarter. Sherman Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at about $81,000. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 8,103 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,486,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 2,383 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 25,689 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,712,000 after acquiring an additional 755 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. Mizuho lowered 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup decreased their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.21.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $209.63 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The business has a 50 day moving average of $187.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $206.52. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The company has a market cap of $97.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.45, 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 134.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by 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.