Sunbelt Securities Inc. Increases Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 90.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,257 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $923,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new stake in American Tower in the first quarter valued at approximately $801,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in American Tower by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 38,528 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,613,000 after acquiring an additional 4,660 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in American Tower by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,401 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,430 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 29.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 41,284 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,157,000 after purchasing an additional 9,275 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in American Tower by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 871,635 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $172,061,000 after purchasing an additional 43,531 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Scotiabank increased their price objective on American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.00.

American Tower Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:AMT opened at $232.46 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $154.58 and a one year high of $243.56. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $227.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $203.65. The stock has a market cap of $108.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.83.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.52). The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 23.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 146.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total value of $2,333,866.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,070,789.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other American Tower news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at $7,424,177.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total value of $2,333,866.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,070,789.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,723 shares of company stock valued at $7,795,397. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About American Tower

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.