Johnson Financial Group Inc. Purchases 487 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 37.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $386,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 0.3% during the third 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 during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings 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 worth $2,135,227,000 after acquiring an additional 691,934 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,269,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,195,545,000 after acquiring an additional 258,030 shares during the period. Akre Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.5% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 36,375 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,628,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,090,046,000 after acquiring an additional 138,303 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE AMT traded down $0.67 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $185.93. 1,257,941 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,430,903. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.16. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $154.58 and a 1 year high of $219.10. The company has a market cap of $86.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by ($0.47). American Tower had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The company had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.54 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 146.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Barclays raised their price target on American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on American Tower from $243.00 to $223.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James upgraded American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total value of $128,450.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,345,422. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Tower news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total value of $128,450.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,332 shares in the company, valued at $1,345,422. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,264 shares of company stock valued at $3,458,757 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.