United Bank Buys 391 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

United Bank boosted its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,223 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the period. United Bank’s holdings in American Tower were worth $958,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after buying an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,599,074,000 after buying an additional 204,426 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,164,851,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in American Tower by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $975,065,000 after purchasing an additional 107,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $981,455,000 after buying an additional 38,436 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of AMT stock opened at $215.52 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.74 billion, a PE ratio of 90.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $198.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.58.

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

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AMT. Mizuho dropped their price target on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank cut their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were 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 approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.