Sowell Financial Services LLC Takes Position in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 6,867 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $1,494,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 258,953 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $56,348,000 after purchasing an additional 27,572 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 45.5% in the first quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 3,048 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $663,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.5% in the first quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,030 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,618,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 3.5% during the first quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 8,518 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,854,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Optas LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 33.6% during the first quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,554 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $240.25.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT traded up $0.36 during trading on Thursday, reaching $215.50. 1,665,651 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,486,491. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.81. American Tower Corporation has a 52-week low of $172.51 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $215.43 and a 200-day moving average of $203.25.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.54 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 30.20%. The company's revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. American Tower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 174.81%.

American Tower 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.