American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Position Boosted by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,550,218 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 59,306 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.33% of American Tower worth $284,326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 44,288 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,123,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $1,767,000. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in American Tower by 129.4% during the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 18,182 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,335,000 after purchasing an additional 10,256 shares in the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $129,000. Finally, Loudon Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Loudon Investment Management LLC now owns 12,733 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,335,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AMT. Mizuho reduced their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.43.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $216.41 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $195.99 and a 200-day moving average of $205.61.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 141.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale 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.

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.