Westover Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Westover Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 972 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Emerald Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Thompson Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd bought a new position in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total value of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,532,080.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Raymond James raised American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Mizuho started coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.91.

American Tower Stock Up 1.2 %

AMT traded up $2.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $181.76. 3,130,325 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,469,077. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $189.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.30. The stock has a market cap of $84.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $154.58 and a twelve month high of $219.10.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by ($0.47). American Tower had a return on equity of 18.45% and a net margin of 18.42%. The firm had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.54 EPS. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 146.61%.

American Tower Company 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.