Ethic Inc. Grows Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Ethic Inc. increased its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,294 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 2,123 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in American Tower were worth $8,674,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AMT. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,516,890,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437,602 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,342,805 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,074,956,000 after acquiring an additional 129,192 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,179,269 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,050,390,000 after purchasing an additional 537,136 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in American Tower by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,570,547,000 after buying an additional 3,421,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth about $1,164,851,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of American Tower stock traded up $6.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $210.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,189,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,502,745. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $214.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $201.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $98.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.86. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $172.51 and a one year 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 the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $2.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.79 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. This is an increase 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 presently 174.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AMT shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $239.27.

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.