American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Acquired by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 444,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,805 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.10% of American Tower worth $81,514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMT. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in American Tower by 227.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,364 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $550,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 8.6% during the third quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 6,849 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,593,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Tower by 15.4% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,722 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,098,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 8.1% during the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 1,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth $125,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Tower Price Performance

American Tower stock opened at $209.95 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $190.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $206.04. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The stock has a market cap of $98.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

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

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AMT. Mizuho decreased their target price on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.29.

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.