Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $201.74 Million Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 39.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 934,197 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 263,876 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.20% of American Tower worth $201,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,930,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,020,034,000 after purchasing an additional 196,942 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,984,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,135,227,000 after purchasing an additional 691,934 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,269,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,195,545,000 after purchasing an additional 258,030 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,628,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,090,046,000 after purchasing an additional 138,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,711,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $939,284,000 after purchasing an additional 56,598 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.36.

American Tower Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE AMT traded down $1.21 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $171.69. 1,701,397 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,597,943. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $154.58 and a 12 month high of $219.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $190.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $193.97. The company has a market capitalization of $80.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.67.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($1.16). American Tower had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 13.31%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 203.77%.

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.