Oak Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Oak Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 8.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,961 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 955 shares during the quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $2,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMT. Alera Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Alera Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,105 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Allstate Corp increased its position 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 worth $378,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Augustine Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 13.9% in 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 during the period. Finally, Glassman Wealth Services increased its holdings in American Tower by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 1,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $230.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James upgraded shares of American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $234.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.67.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $194.38 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $188.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.95. The company has a market capitalization of $90.77 billion, a PE ratio of 43.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.81. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $154.58 and a 1 year high of $219.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its 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). The firm had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.54 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.03 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 146.61%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other American Tower news, EVP Sanjay Goel sold 3,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.36, for a total transaction of $702,061.44. Following the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director now owns 7,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,345,422. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Sanjay Goel sold 3,504 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 $5,692,828.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.