Jones Financial Companies Lllp Raises Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 18.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 144,481 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 22,260 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in American Tower were worth $26,499,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in American Tower in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 431.0% during the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC lifted its position in American Tower by 51.0% during the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 222 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 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 $1.89 on Wednesday, hitting $209.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,969,651 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,219,904. The company has a market capitalization of $97.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $188.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $206.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56.

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

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. American Tower's payout ratio is currently 134.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AMT shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $225.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.