GAMMA Investing LLC Buys Shares of 3,177 American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $686,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMT. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 57.7% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 35,751 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,718,000 after buying an additional 13,074 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in American Tower by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 177,288 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,155,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc boosted its stake in American Tower by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,821 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,001,000. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS boosted its stake in American Tower by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 159,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,499,000 after purchasing an additional 29,848 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of American Tower 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were 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 $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:AMT traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $174.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,406,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,417,814. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.19. The company has a market capitalization of $81.51 billion, a PE ratio of 54.78, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.67. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $154.58 and a twelve month high of $219.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29.

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

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.71%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 203.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AMT. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. 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. StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.36.

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.