Kovack Advisors Inc. Acquires 170 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 11.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,649 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $10,020,034,000 after purchasing an additional 196,942 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in American Tower by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 16,440,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,549,366,000 after purchasing an additional 583,892 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in American Tower by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,416,004,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839,570 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,195,545,000 after purchasing an additional 258,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Akre Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 6,804,599 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,468,977,000 after purchasing an additional 36,375 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $194.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.07, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $189.44 and its 200 day moving average is $194.69. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $154.58 and a 12 month high of $219.10.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.79 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.54 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.03 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid 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 is Friday, June 14th. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 146.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AMT. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $243.00 to $223.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. 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. Mizuho started coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of 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, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $230.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Sanjay Goel sold 3,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,692,828.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Sanjay Goel sold 3,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,692,828.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $128,450.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,345,422. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently 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.