Fire Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 3,553 American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Fire Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,553 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $652,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMT. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP acquired a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter worth about $444,000. 111 Capital acquired a new position in American Tower in the fourth quarter worth approximately $840,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new position in American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $64,442,000. Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in American Tower by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC now owns 6,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Phocas Financial Corp. bought a new stake in American Tower in the fourth quarter worth approximately $349,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $212.50 on Thursday. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $172.51 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $215.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $201.93. The company has a market cap of $99.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.66, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.86. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.34. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.79 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 174.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group boosted their price target on American Tower from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on American Tower from $234.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $240.25.

American Tower 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.