Waverly Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Waverly Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,068 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 604 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Partners Group Holding AG grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 378,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $69,438,000 after purchasing an additional 28,988 shares during the last quarter. TigerOak Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,102,000. Aviva PLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 388,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $71,252,000 after acquiring an additional 46,009 shares in the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation lifted its stake in American Tower by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 42,608 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,815,000 after acquiring an additional 6,165 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at $193,246,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Raymond James upped their target price on American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. JMP Securities increased their target price on American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $240.25.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $211.89 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $172.51 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $215.21 and its 200 day moving average is $201.65. The stock has a market cap of $99.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.41, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.34. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 174.81%.

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.