American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Bought by Arete Wealth Advisors LLC

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 26.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,015 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,045 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $920,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in American Tower during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in American Tower during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $220.43 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.19. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The company has a market cap of $103.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business 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 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 dividend yield of 3.08%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s 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 owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMT. Wells Fargo & Company raised American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.07.

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.