Independent Advisor Alliance Boosts Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Independent Advisor Alliance raised its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 26.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in American Tower were worth $841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its position in American Tower by 431.0% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 51.0% in the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 222 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 49.3% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price target 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. Mizuho dropped their target price on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price 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. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased 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 report on Monday, February 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.29.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $211.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $98.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $205.82. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56. 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 (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company 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 represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio 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.