66,744 Shares in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Bought by Easterly Investment Partners LLC

Easterly Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 66,744 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $12,242,000. American Tower comprises 1.0% of Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,164,851,000. LM Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 86.8% in the 4th quarter. LM Advisors LLC now owns 2,002 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the period. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth about $393,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 30.7% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 26,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,850,000 after acquiring an additional 6,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sava Infond d.o.o. acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,359,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Tower Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AMT stock opened at $209.91 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $197.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $204.94. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year 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 stock has a market cap of $98.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AMT. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $229.43.

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.