American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Position Increased by TIAA Trust National Association

TIAA Trust National Association raised its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 78,921 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 2,233 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in American Tower were worth $14,475,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AMT. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of American Tower by 113.9% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 261 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Trading Down 1.6 %

American Tower stock opened at $209.44 on Wednesday. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $197.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.91. 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 company has a market capitalization of $97.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.37, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities initiated coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective for the company. Barclays increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower 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 transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by 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.