Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 76 shares during the quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,167,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AMT. State Street Corp increased its holdings 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 worth $4,924,091,000 after buying an additional 635,726 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.9% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2.1% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.9% in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMT. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced 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. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JMP Securities initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.21.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $212.49 on Monday. 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 capitalization of $99.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $206.21. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for 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 period last year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. This is a positive change 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 (DPR) is presently 134.72%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.