Tufton Capital Management Has $434,000 Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Tufton Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in American Tower were worth $434,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 101,474.3% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,474,342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,219,094,000 after purchasing an additional 10,464,030 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,008,567,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2,329.8% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,329,779 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $218,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275,052 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,231,486 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,532,063,000 after purchasing an additional 962,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 16,195.9% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 849,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,833,560,000 after purchasing an additional 844,128 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.36.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT stock traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $171.76. The company had a trading volume of 747,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,398,073. The company has a market capitalization of $80.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $192.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $193.58. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $154.58 and a 1-year high of $219.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.34 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 203.77%.

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.