Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Acquires 130 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,718 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $315,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AMT. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in American Tower by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,743,000 after acquiring an additional 314,769 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter worth $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,102,000. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management increased its position in shares of American Tower by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 432,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $79,344,000 after acquiring an additional 22,523 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents 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. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. JMP Securities began coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. 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 report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four research 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. According to MarketBeat, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.29.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $213.42 on Tuesday. 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 cap of $99.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.05, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $190.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $206.16.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. American Tower’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

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.