American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Bought by HM Payson & Co.

HM Payson & Co. grew its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 33,711 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $6,183,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AMT. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $975,065,000 after buying an additional 107,345 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $981,455,000 after buying an additional 38,436 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Up 2.7 %

AMT stock opened at $212.49 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The firm has a market cap of $99.29 billion, a PE ratio of 89.66, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $189.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.40. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. American Tower’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 134.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AMT shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Scotiabank cut their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities initiated coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.