LPL Financial LLC Grows Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 368,499 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,271 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $67,586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 49.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,215 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd increased its position in American Tower by 252.2% during the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 4,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,116,000 after buying an additional 3,437 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 16.1% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 44,973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,459,000 after acquiring an additional 6,236 shares during the period. Finally, Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth approximately $215,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $209.91 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $98.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.57, a PEG 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 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $197.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $204.94.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value 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. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup increased their price target on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. 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 research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JMP Securities started coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.43.

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.