American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Acquired by Schroder Investment Management Group

Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 16.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 474,325 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 66,990 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in American Tower were worth $86,289,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the third 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 lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 204,426 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,164,851,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 107,345 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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 last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AMT. JMP Securities started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target 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. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $229.43.

American Tower Stock Up 0.7 %

American Tower stock opened at $215.52 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $198.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.34.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.