2,615 Shares in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Purchased by Second Half Financial Partners LLC

Second Half Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,615 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $480,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,516,890,000 after buying an additional 3,437,602 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in American Tower by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,342,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,074,956,000 after acquiring an additional 129,192 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,179,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,050,390,000 after acquiring an additional 537,136 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,570,547,000 after purchasing an additional 3,421,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,164,851,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on AMT. Citigroup lifted their price target on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. JMP Securities began coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.07.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $210.64 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $210.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $202.11. The firm has a market cap of $98.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

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.