Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Raises Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 33.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 67,531 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,739 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $12,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,924,091,000 after purchasing an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in American Tower by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,599,074,000 after buying an additional 204,426 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,646 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 41.8% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,243,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 4.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,211,397,000 after acquiring an additional 243,061 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $190.51 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $89.02 billion, a PE ratio of 80.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AMT. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.67.

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.