Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires 238 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,294 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Personal Capital Advisors Corp boosted its position in American Tower by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Personal Capital Advisors Corp now owns 2,510 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $631,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 40.3% in the 1st quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 174 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 806 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $202,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 358 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Tower news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total value of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,532,080.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMT. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, HSBC began coverage on American Tower in a research note on Thursday, December 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.55.

American Tower Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE AMT traded down $0.79 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $196.59. The company had a trading volume of 303,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,305,734. The company has a market capitalization of $91.68 billion, a PE ratio of 62.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $196.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $154.58 and a one year high of $219.10.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($1.16). American Tower had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 13.31%. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.34 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 213.84%.

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.