Golden State Equity Partners Raises Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Golden State Equity Partners raised its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the quarter. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in American Tower were worth $524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Coastline Trust Co boosted its stake in American Tower by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 2,089 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 2,384 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in American Tower by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 199,771 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,317 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in American Tower by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 161,673 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jmac Enterprises LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 2,539 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $418,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.36.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE AMT traded down $1.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $171.69. The stock had a trading volume of 1,701,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,597,943. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $190.29 and a 200 day moving average of $193.97. The stock has a market cap of $80.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.67. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $154.58 and a 52-week high of $219.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($1.16). The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.74 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 13.31% and a return on equity of 12.80%. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 203.77%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other American Tower news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.