American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 59,306 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,550,218 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 59,306 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.33% of American Tower worth $284,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at $115,000. Commerce Bank grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 18,168 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,225,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 1.5% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 45,720 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $10,633,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in American Tower by 9.2% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,725 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $637,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Advisors LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 51.5% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 10,300 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,395,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Tower from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $229.43.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $209.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,607,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,268,842. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $197.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.91. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The company has a market cap of $98.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.57, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. This is a boost from American Tower's previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 141.37%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.