AGF Management Ltd. Raises Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

AGF Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 47.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 112,671 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,354 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $20,665,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 25.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 2,723.4% in the 3rd quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $279,890,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160,890 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at about $193,246,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 456.9% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,124,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,269,000 after acquiring an additional 922,701 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target 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. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.29.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $209.95 on Wednesday. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $190.77 and a 200-day moving average of $206.04. 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 has a market cap of $98.14 billion, a PE ratio of 88.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. 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 3.24%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.