Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Boosts Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,315 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $2,399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. purchased a new position in American Tower during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in American Tower during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $225.08. The company had a trading volume of 272,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,263,284. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $162.55 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $228.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $105.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.83.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.52). The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 23.06%. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.46 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 121.80%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In related news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $4,953,510.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,223,890. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other American Tower news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $4,953,510.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,843 shares in the company, valued at $14,223,890. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total transaction of $2,333,866.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 51,746 shares in the company, valued at $12,070,789.42. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,723 shares of company stock valued at $7,795,397 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AMT. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $246.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $223.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Tower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.92.

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.