Focus Partners Wealth Increases Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 272,811 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 10,998 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth owned about 0.06% of American Tower worth $52,720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ethic Inc. boosted its holdings in American Tower by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 47,294 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $8,674,000 after purchasing an additional 2,123 shares during the last quarter. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fairview Capital Investment Management LLC now owns 212,372 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $38,951,000 after acquiring an additional 4,684 shares during the period. Fiduciary Trust Co raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 60,607 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $11,116,000 after acquiring an additional 920 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 210,268 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $41,875,000 after acquiring an additional 17,524 shares during the period. Finally, FWL Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $123,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AMT. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $239.27.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMT traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $204.68. 4,060,215 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,507,608. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $172.51 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $215.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $201.68. The stock has a market cap of $95.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.36, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.86.

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

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. This is a positive change from American Tower's previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. American Tower's dividend payout ratio is 174.81%.

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.