SWS Partners Acquires 1,162 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

SWS Partners boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 14.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,162 shares during the period. SWS Partners’ holdings in American Tower were worth $1,686,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Activest Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 431.0% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AMT shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JMP Securities assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.21.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Tower Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $209.63 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $97.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $187.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.52.

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

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 134.72%.

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.