Costello Asset Management INC Acquires New Shares in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,390 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,437,602 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,179,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,050,390,000 after purchasing an additional 537,136 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in American Tower by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,570,547,000 after purchasing an additional 3,421,413 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in American Tower by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,136,981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,335,407,000 after purchasing an additional 220,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,941,586 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,089,746,000 after purchasing an additional 455,225 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James Financial set a $250.00 price objective on American Tower and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 price target (down previously from $250.00) on shares of American Tower in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $234.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.88.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CEO Juan Font sold 720 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $149,997.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 23,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,880,130.25. This trade represents a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $212.69 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $218.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.34, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.36. American Tower Corporation has a 52-week low of $172.51 and a 52-week high of $243.56.

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

American Tower Announces Dividend

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

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.