American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Acquired by Davis Selected Advisers

Davis Selected Advisers boosted its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 17.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 89,530 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,590 shares during the period. Davis Selected Advisers’ holdings in American Tower were worth $16,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. FMR LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in American Tower by 2,723.4% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at $193,246,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in American Tower by 3.1% in the third 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. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in American Tower by 270.4% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 466,772 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $108,553,000 after acquiring an additional 340,742 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on AMT. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. JMP Securities started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $212.49 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56. 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 company has a market capitalization of $99.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.66, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $189.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $206.40.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued 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. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. American Tower’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 134.72%.

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.