HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Acquires New Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,835 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,476,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gold Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Thompson Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in American Tower by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Scotiabank cut their target price on 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. Barclays reduced their target price on American Tower from $234.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Raymond James raised shares of American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

American Tower Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of AMT opened at $192.77 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $154.58 and a fifty-two week high of $219.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $185.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.77. The firm has a market cap of $90.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.61, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.79.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.03 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 146.61%.

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.