Madison Investment Advisors LLC Invests $29.66 Million in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 161,703 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $29,658,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of American Tower by 227.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,364 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $550,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp grew its position in shares of American Tower by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 6,849 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,593,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,722 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,098,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $125,000. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,169 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $970,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AMT shares. Mizuho decreased their price objective on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup upped their price target on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.29.

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 on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was 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 directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Down 1.5 %

AMT opened at $206.67 on Thursday. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $191.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.05. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The stock has a market cap of $96.61 billion, a PE ratio of 87.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect 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 $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. 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 currently 141.37%.

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.