Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,809 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 12,230 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in American Tower were worth $11,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AMT. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 113.9% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 261 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the topic of several research reports. JMP Securities boosted their price target on American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $250.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $239.27.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT stock traded up $0.32 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $224.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,581,475 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,475,971. The company has a market cap of $104.80 billion, a PE ratio of 94.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a fifty day moving average of $214.45 and a 200-day moving average of $202.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $172.51 and a 52 week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.79 EPS. The company's revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower's previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower's dividend payout ratio is currently 174.81%.

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.