Advisors Asset Management Inc. Has $19.76 Million Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 107,745 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 995 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $19,762,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in American Tower by 1.9% during 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 period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 25.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $975,065,000 after acquiring an additional 107,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 0.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $981,455,000 after purchasing an additional 38,436 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMT. Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a 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 for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven 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 has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $228.79.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT stock opened at $213.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The stock has a market cap of $99.65 billion, a PE ratio of 89.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $205.61.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. On average, analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 141.37%.

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.