Consolidated Planning Corp Acquires Shares of 1,097 American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Consolidated Planning Corp acquired a new stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,097 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 41.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,299,306 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,144,014,000 after buying an additional 1,541,029 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 2,329.8% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,329,779 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $218,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275,052 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 16,195.9% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 849,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,833,560,000 after purchasing an additional 844,128 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 5.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 691,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 22.9% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,255,988 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $535,447,000 after purchasing an additional 607,199 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 completion of the sale, 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 at this link. In related 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 value of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT traded down $1.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $171.69. 1,701,397 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,597,943. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $154.58 and a fifty-two week high of $219.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $80.07 billion, a PE ratio of 53.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $190.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.22.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 EPS 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 net margin of 13.31% and a return on equity of 12.80%. American Tower’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.34 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 203.77%.

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.