Horizon Investments LLC Buys 284 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Horizon Investments LLC raised its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 13,137 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $2,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. FMR LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 25.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 2,723.4% in the third quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $279,890,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160,890 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $193,246,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in American Tower by 456.9% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,124,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $206,269,000 after purchasing an additional 922,701 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in American Tower by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,924,091,000 after purchasing an additional 635,726 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AMT shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup increased their target price 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. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $228.79.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $214.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $193.74 and a 200-day moving average of $205.54. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The company has a market cap of $100.42 billion, a PE ratio of 90.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 141.37%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.