West Family Investments Inc. Has $328,000 Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

West Family Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 29.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,789 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AMT. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 28.5% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 314,769 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in American Tower during the fourth quarter worth $1,102,000. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after buying an additional 1,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 432,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after buying an additional 22,523 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AMT. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. JMP Securities initiated coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $212.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $99.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s 50-day moving average is $189.60 and its 200 day moving average is $206.40. 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.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 134.72%.

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.