Allianz SE Invests $5.49 Million in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Allianz SE acquired a new stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 30,201 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $5,494,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in American Tower in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter worth $46,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AMT. JMP Securities began coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $229.43.

American Tower Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of AMT opened at $215.52 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The company has a market capitalization of $100.74 billion, a PE ratio of 90.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $198.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $204.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

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

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

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.