Somerset Trust Co Increases Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Somerset Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the quarter. Somerset Trust Co’s holdings in American Tower were worth $977,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AMT. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its position in American Tower by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 6,853 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,332,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 113.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 59,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,549,000 after buying an additional 31,616 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 740 shares during the period. ProVise Management Group LLC raised its position in American Tower by 48.2% during the second quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC now owns 15,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,959,000 after acquiring an additional 4,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Tower by 725.8% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 45,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,860,000 after acquiring an additional 40,063 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT stock opened at $190.51 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The stock has a market cap of $89.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day moving average of $193.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $211.32.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business’s revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AMT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lowered their price target on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.67.

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.