Banco Santander S.A. Purchases 3,842 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Banco Santander S.A. boosted its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 57,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 3,842 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $10,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 965 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $195,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,447 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Oak Hill Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 194.9% in the fourth quarter. Oak Hill Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 2,727 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 75.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC now owns 70,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,839,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Andra AP fonden boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 100,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,469,000 after purchasing an additional 17,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $212.49 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $189.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $206.40. 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 firm has a market cap of $99.29 billion, a PE ratio of 89.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 134.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AMT shares. JMP Securities initiated coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.21.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.