CoreFirst Bank & Trust Buys Shares of 1,110 American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings 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 during the period. Adelante Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Tower by 2,723.4% in the 3rd quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $279,890,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160,890 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at about $193,246,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 456.9% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,124,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $206,269,000 after purchasing an additional 922,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised 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 purchasing an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Down 1.6 %

AMT stock opened at $212.75 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $196.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $205.10. The company has a market cap of $99.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.77, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company 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 $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup increased their price target on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $229.43.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Company 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.