American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Purchased by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 15.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,827 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,424 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $2,139,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Gold Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in American Tower in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Thompson Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in American Tower in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AMT. Raymond James upgraded shares of American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $234.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $243.00 to $223.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday. They set a “buy” rating and a $230.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.67.

American Tower Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE AMT opened at $194.79 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $154.58 and a 12 month high of $219.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $189.88 and a 200-day moving average of $194.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $90.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.81.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 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 company had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.03 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 146.61%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Tower news, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total value of $128,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,345,422. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sanjay Goel sold 3,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.36, for a total value of $702,061.44. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.