American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Bought by Aviva PLC

Aviva PLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 13.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 388,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,009 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $71,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth $34,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Tower Stock Performance

AMT opened at $220.43 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The business’s 50 day moving average is $202.22 and its 200-day moving average is $203.95. The stock has a market cap of $103.04 billion, a PE ratio of 93.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 141.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on American Tower in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.07.

American Tower 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.