American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Purchased by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 173,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 6,453 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $31,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in American Tower by 227.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,364 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 1,641 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 3.1% during the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 3,936 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $915,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank boosted its holdings in American Tower by 18.9% during the third quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 1,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in American Tower by 9.6% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 44,730 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,402,000 after buying an additional 3,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XML Financial LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 11.1% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMT. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, JMP Securities assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.21.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $212.49 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $189.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.21. 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 cap of $99.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. 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 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 134.72%.

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.