Second Half Financial Partners LLC Buys Shares of 2,615 American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Second Half Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,615 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $480,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMT. Partners Group Holding AG boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 378,592 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $69,438,000 after purchasing an additional 28,988 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $260,743,000 after buying an additional 314,769 shares during the period. TigerOak Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,102,000. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 388,487 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $71,252,000 after acquiring an additional 46,009 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $223.83. 1,550,281 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,881,761. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $213.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $202.25. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $172.51 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $104.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.54 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. This is an increase from American Tower's previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower's payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on AMT shares. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. JMP Securities raised their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on American Tower in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $250.00 price target for the company. Barclays raised their target price 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, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $239.27.

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.