Advisors Capital Management LLC Has $490,000 Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 28.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,671 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $490,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in American Tower by 113.9% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 261 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on American Tower in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho lowered their price objective on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.07.

American Tower Stock Up 0.0 %

AMT opened at $217.86 on Wednesday. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The firm has a market cap of $101.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.92, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $206.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $202.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

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

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

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.