SPC Financial Inc. Has $873,000 Stake in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

SPC Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) by 22.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,013 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its holdings in American Tower by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,516,890,000 after buying an additional 3,437,602 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in American Tower by 66.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,570,547,000 after buying an additional 3,421,413 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in American Tower by 160.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,920,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $902,396,000 after buying an additional 3,032,005 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 23,627.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,701,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $370,346,000 after buying an additional 1,694,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in American Tower by 272.0% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,136,903 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $247,390,000 after buying an additional 831,247 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of American Tower from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $234.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of American Tower in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.88.

American Tower Trading Up 1.8%

AMT stock opened at $212.18 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $99.33 billion, a PE ratio of 77.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.36, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.95. American Tower Corporation has a 52 week low of $172.51 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $218.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.32.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 12.60% and a return on equity of 24.85%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 247.27%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CEO Juan Font sold 720 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $149,997.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 23,425 shares in the company, valued at $4,880,130.25. This represents a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is owned by 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.