American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Bought by Smith Moore & CO.

Smith Moore & CO. grew its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,760 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $873,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,342,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,074,956,000 after purchasing an additional 129,192 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth about $1,164,851,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $975,065,000 after buying an additional 107,345 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in American Tower by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,164,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $947,295,000 after acquiring an additional 742,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in American Tower by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,947,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $357,208,000 after acquiring an additional 10,343 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Down 3.4 %

American Tower stock opened at $220.43 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.01, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. 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 has a 50 day moving average of $202.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $204.19. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. American Tower’s quarterly revenue 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 firm 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 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on American Tower in a report on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $232.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was 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 link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.