Vantage Investment Partners LLC Acquires New Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Vantage Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 64,707 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $11,868,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMT. Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after buying an additional 840 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 70,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,731,000 after acquiring an additional 3,861 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 5.8% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 58,617 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,394,000 after purchasing an additional 3,218 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in American Tower by 90.6% during the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 4,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wallace Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the second quarter worth about $550,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $192.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.72 billion, a PE ratio of 81.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $192.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $211.24. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. American Tower’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

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.