First Trust Advisors LP Grows Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 127.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 126,558 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 70,895 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in American Tower were worth $23,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth about $1,784,000. Destination Wealth Management lifted its holdings in American Tower by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 94,992 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,091,000 after buying an additional 2,517 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,990 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $981,455,000 after acquiring an additional 38,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its position in shares of American Tower by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 7,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,814,000 after acquiring an additional 1,260 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on American Tower in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $233.07.

American Tower Stock Down 0.1 %

AMT stock opened at $210.64 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company has a market capitalization of $98.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $210.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $202.24.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. On average, analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 141.37%.

American Tower Company Profile

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.