LGT Group Foundation Acquires 6,165 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

LGT Group Foundation lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 16.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,608 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,165 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in American Tower were worth $7,815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Balentine LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth approximately $586,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,743,000 after purchasing an additional 314,769 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth approximately $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. bought a new position in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,102,000. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in 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 valued at $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMT. JMP Securities began coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.21.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $205.61 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $96.08 billion, a PE ratio of 86.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $187.09 and its 200-day moving average is $206.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for 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 was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 134.72%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

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

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.