American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Holdings Raised by Forsta AP Fonden

Forsta AP Fonden boosted its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in American Tower were worth $21,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.1% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 204,426 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of American Tower by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,211,397,000 after purchasing an additional 243,061 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMT. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JMP Securities initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.23.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Tower Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE:AMT opened at $187.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $87.41 billion, a PE ratio of 78.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $191.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $210.97.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.58 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

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.