Sarasin & Partners LLP Purchases 37,692 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 936,011 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,692 shares during the period. American Tower accounts for approximately 1.9% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in American Tower were worth $171,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMT. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 25.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 41.8% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885,421 shares during the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 2,723.4% during the third quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $279,890,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160,890 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 23,224.1% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 997,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $231,941,000 after acquiring an additional 993,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 22,242.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 778,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,811,330,000 after acquiring an additional 775,379 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were 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 approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho lowered 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 report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.67.

American Tower Trading Up 0.2 %

AMT stock opened at $190.51 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $89.02 billion, a PE ratio of 80.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $192.86 and its 200 day moving average is $211.42. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.42%.

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.