American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Stock Holdings Increased by Ballentine Partners LLC

Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,550 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,689,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AMT. Alera Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Alera Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,105 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $886,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Allstate Corp raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 1,750 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. First Business Financial Services Inc. grew its position in American Tower by 1.3% during the third quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $705,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. grew its position in American Tower by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its position in American Tower by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 459 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total transaction of $128,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,345,422. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other American Tower news, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total value of $128,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,345,422. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sanjay Goel sold 3,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.36, for a total transaction of $702,061.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,692,828.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $195.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 162,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,428,904. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $154.58 and a 1-year high of $219.10. The company has a market cap of $91.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.08, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $186.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $195.43.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by ($0.47). American Tower had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The business had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.03 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 146.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on AMT shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Raymond James upgraded shares of American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $243.00 to $223.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.91.

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.