Bank of Nova Scotia Purchases 3,231 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 63,626 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,231 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in American Tower were worth $11,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $1,164,851,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at about $193,246,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 456.9% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,124,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,269,000 after buying an additional 922,701 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,164,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $947,295,000 after buying an additional 742,632 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,179,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,050,390,000 after acquiring an additional 537,136 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower 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 completion of 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 the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $208.55 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $204.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $203.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $97.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.99, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 141.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities began coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $232.07.

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.