Ritholtz Wealth Management Buys 9,922 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 182.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,365 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 9,922 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in American Tower were worth $2,818,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 269.0% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in American Tower in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMT. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $230.67.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $190.51. 2,882,489 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,167,840. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $192.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.02 billion, a PE ratio of 80.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. American Tower's quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. American Tower's payout ratio is 273.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company's stock, 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 through this link. 0.18% of the stock is 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.