American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Bought by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 368,499 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 12,271 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.08% of American Tower worth $67,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMT. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in American Tower by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,743,000 after acquiring an additional 314,769 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,102,000. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management boosted its stake in 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were 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 owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on AMT shares. JMP Securities assumed coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $229.43.

American Tower Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of AMT opened at $209.91 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $197.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.12 billion, a PE ratio of 88.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

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 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 141.37%.

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.