Empowered Funds LLC Grows Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 17.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,693 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 1,758 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in American Tower were worth $2,145,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Balentine LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $586,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 314,769 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,156,000. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,995 shares during the period. Finally, CCLA Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 432,891 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 22,523 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

American Tower Stock Up 0.1 %

AMT traded up $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $189.66. The stock had a trading volume of 664,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,056,903. The stock's 50 day moving average is $186.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company has a market capitalization of $88.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. American Tower's payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMT. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup dropped their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped 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. Finally, JMP Securities began coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $225.79.

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.