Renasant Bank Increases Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Renasant Bank grew its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 59.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,270 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 846 shares during the period. Renasant Bank’s holdings in American Tower were worth $416,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in American Tower by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,743,000 after acquiring an additional 314,769 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth about $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,102,000. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management increased its stake in American Tower by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 432,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,344,000 after buying an additional 22,523 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $207.29 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year 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 has a market cap of $96.90 billion, a PE ratio of 87.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $191.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.06.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the subject of several research reports. 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 target for the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.29.

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.