American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Purchased by Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC

Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 119.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 837 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 456 shares during the quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $182,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in American Tower by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,930,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,020,034,000 after purchasing an additional 196,942 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of American Tower by 5.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,984,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,135,227,000 after buying an additional 691,934 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,269,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,195,545,000 after buying an additional 258,030 shares during the last quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 6,804,599 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,468,977,000 after buying an additional 36,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,628,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,090,046,000 after acquiring an additional 138,303 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AMT. Mizuho began coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Raymond James raised American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $243.00 to $223.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.91.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other American Tower news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total value of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 17,264 shares of company stock worth $3,458,757. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE AMT traded down $2.40 during trading on Thursday, hitting $188.94. 570,847 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,419,197. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $185.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $196.15. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $154.58 and a 1 year high of $219.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.71.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.43 by ($0.47). The firm had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.54 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 9.96 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 146.61%.

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.