Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. Takes $1.07 Million Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 5,821 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,068,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 49.3% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of American Tower by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,215 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its stake in American Tower by 252.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 4,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 3,437 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in American Tower by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 44,973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,459,000 after buying an additional 6,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AMT. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $229.43.

American Tower Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $209.91 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $98.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.57, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $197.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $204.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

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.