National Pension Service Has $192.93 Million Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

National Pension Service reduced its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,051,912 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 7,212 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.23% of American Tower worth $192,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Balentine LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the third quarter worth about $586,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in American Tower by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,743,000 after purchasing an additional 314,769 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in American Tower during the third quarter worth about $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in American Tower during the fourth quarter worth about $1,102,000. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in American Tower by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,995 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AMT shares. JMP Securities started coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target on the stock. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.21.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $200.75 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.81 billion, a PE ratio of 84.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.96.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 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 business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

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.