Summit Securities Group LLC Invests $312,000 in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 222 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank reduced their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. JMP Securities began coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Finally, 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. Three equities 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.43.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $215.52 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.94, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $198.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.58.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share 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 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.