American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Bought by Schroder Investment Management Group

Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 16.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 474,325 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 66,990 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group owned approximately 0.10% of American Tower worth $86,289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AMT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $1,164,851,000. Adelante Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 2,723.4% in the third quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $279,890,000 after buying an additional 1,160,890 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in American Tower during the fourth quarter worth about $193,246,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 456.9% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,124,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,269,000 after acquiring an additional 922,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in American Tower by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank cut their target price on 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. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $229.43.

American Tower Price Performance

American Tower stock opened at $215.52 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $198.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.34. The firm has a market cap of $100.74 billion, a PE ratio of 90.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. 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.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business 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 company posted $2.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 141.37%.

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.