J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Buys 159 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,661 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $575,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Castle Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $230,000. Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 157,462 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,993,000 after buying an additional 4,634 shares during the last quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 30,821 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,654,000 after purchasing an additional 4,471 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 29.9% during the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,285 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,316 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,801 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on AMT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $217.36.

American Tower Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AMT stock opened at $172.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $191.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.09. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $154.58 and a fifty-two week high of $219.10.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($1.16). The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.74 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 13.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.34 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 203.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total value of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other American Tower news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.