1,700 Shares in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Purchased by Summit Securities Group LLC

Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Partners Group Holding AG increased its holdings in American Tower by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 378,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $69,438,000 after purchasing an additional 28,988 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 314,769 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth about $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,102,000. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in American Tower by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective for the company. Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup upped their target price on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $229.43.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $215.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $100.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $198.89 and a 200-day moving average of $204.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick 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.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. The company’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 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

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.