American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Bought by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 63,626 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 3,231 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in American Tower were worth $11,669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $2,074,956,000 after purchasing an additional 129,192 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,179,269 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,050,390,000 after buying an additional 537,136 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,164,851,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in American Tower by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,941,586 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,089,746,000 after acquiring an additional 455,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $975,065,000 after buying an additional 107,345 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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American Tower Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of American Tower stock traded up $1.99 on Wednesday, hitting $220.00. The stock had a trading volume of 715,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,458,053. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.83, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $206.48 and a 200 day moving average of $202.67. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve 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.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. American Tower's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.70 dividend. This is an increase from American Tower's previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. American Tower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 141.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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 research note on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Tower from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $232.07.

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.