Bcwm LLC Purchases Shares of 18,267 American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Bcwm LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 18,267 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $3,350,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 buying an additional 635,726 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 204,426 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,164,851,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 107,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $981,455,000 after purchasing an additional 38,436 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Up 0.7 %

AMT stock opened at $215.52 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $198.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $204.58. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 141.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the topic of a number of research reports. JMP Securities assumed coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.43.

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.