Davis Selected Advisers Increases Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Davis Selected Advisers increased its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 17.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 89,530 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 13,590 shares during the period. Davis Selected Advisers’ holdings in American Tower were worth $16,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in American Tower by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,924,091,000 after acquiring an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,599,074,000 after acquiring an additional 204,426 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $975,065,000 after acquiring an additional 107,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $981,455,000 after acquiring an additional 38,436 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were 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 directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT opened at $212.49 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The company has a 50 day moving average of $189.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $206.40. The company has a market cap of $99.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. 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 earned $2.29 earnings per share. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 134.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.21.

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.