First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 70,895 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 127.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 126,558 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 70,895 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in American Tower were worth $23,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMT. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in American Tower during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on AMT. Citigroup lifted their price target on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Raymond James increased their price target on American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $234.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $238.33.

American Tower Stock Performance

AMT traded down $1.77 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $223.65. The stock had a trading volume of 466,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,484,634. The stock has a market cap of $104.54 billion, a PE ratio of 94.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $171.50 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $212.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $202.24.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.34. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.79 EPS. American Tower's revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. This is a positive change from American Tower's previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 11th. American Tower's payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

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.