American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Purchased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 132,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,110 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in American Tower were worth $24,360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 269.0% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth $30,000. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management increased its position in shares of American Tower by 431.0% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AMT shares. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.79.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE AMT opened at $189.41 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $187.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56. The company has a market capitalization of $88.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

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.