Vantage Investment Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 64,707 American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Vantage Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 64,707 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $11,868,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Balentine LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $586,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in American Tower by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,743,000 after buying an additional 314,769 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,156,000. Czech National Bank raised its position in American Tower by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 95,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,128,000 after buying an additional 6,163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JMP Securities initiated coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $192.01 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The stock has a market cap of $89.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The business has a fifty day moving average of $192.08 and a 200-day moving average of $211.24.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

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.