Savant Capital LLC Purchases 128 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,750 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,930,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,020,034,000 after purchasing an additional 196,942 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,984,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,135,227,000 after buying an additional 691,934 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in American Tower by 3.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,269,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,195,545,000 after acquiring an additional 258,030 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in American Tower by 2.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,628,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,090,046,000 after acquiring an additional 138,303 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,711,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $939,284,000 after purchasing an additional 56,598 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of AMT opened at $181.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.71. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $154.58 and a 1 year high of $219.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $189.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.30.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.54 EPS. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 9.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 146.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on AMT shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Raymond James upgraded American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.91.

Insider Activity

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.