Sherman Asset Management Inc. Takes Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Sherman Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 439 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $81,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its position in American Tower by 4.0% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 1,687 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in American Tower during the third quarter valued at $224,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its position in American Tower by 50.1% during the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 3,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $738,000 after acquiring an additional 1,059 shares during the last quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower during the third quarter valued at $221,000. Finally, Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its position in American Tower by 6.5% during the third quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 1,857 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was 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 directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AMT. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays reduced their price target on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup reduced their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.21.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $205.61 on Friday. 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 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $187.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 134.72%.

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.