Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Acquires New Shares in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,338 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $487,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atlas Brown Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at about $219,000. Patron Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at about $557,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 3,439.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 87,660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,069,000 after purchasing an additional 85,183 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 84,661 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,277,000 after acquiring an additional 2,865 shares during the period. Finally, Precedent Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter worth approximately $291,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on AMT. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays lifted their target price on American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, HSBC assumed coverage on American Tower in a report on Thursday, December 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.55.

American Tower Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE AMT traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $197.59. 2,170,518 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,376,705. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $196.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $192.13. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $154.58 and a one year high of $219.10. The company has a market cap of $92.15 billion, a PE ratio of 62.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, 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 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($1.16). The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.74 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 13.31%. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.34 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 213.84%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at $12,953,352.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total value of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total value of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.