West Coast Financial LLC Acquires 365 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

West Coast Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 43,332 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the quarter. West Coast Financial LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $7,948,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMT. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its holdings in American Tower by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 6,853 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 140.6% in the second quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $678,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in American Tower by 113.7% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 59,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,549,000 after acquiring an additional 31,616 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co boosted its holdings in American Tower by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 20,492 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,983,000 after purchasing an additional 924 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in American Tower by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,449,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AMT. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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 report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.67.

American Tower Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:AMT opened at $180.32 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $193.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.68. The stock has a market cap of $84.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.08, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.42%.

About American Tower

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.