Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $193.25 Million Investment in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,053,632 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $193,246,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.23% of American Tower at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,743,000 after buying an additional 314,769 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth approximately $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,102,000. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,629,000 after buying an additional 1,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 432,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,344,000 after buying an additional 22,523 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note 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 research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.21.

American Tower Stock Up 2.7 %

American Tower stock opened at $212.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.29 billion, a PE ratio of 89.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month 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. The company has a 50 day moving average of $189.60 and a 200-day moving average of $206.40.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 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 business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.