Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp Invests $248,000 in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp purchased a new position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 101,474.3% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 10,464,030 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $1,008,567,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2,329.8% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 1,275,052 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,231,486 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,532,063,000 after purchasing an additional 962,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 16,195.9% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 849,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,833,560,000 after purchasing an additional 844,128 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Mizuho assumed coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Barclays increased their price target on American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.36.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMT traded up $1.36 on Friday, hitting $172.36. 588,385 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,394,489. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $154.58 and a 1-year high of $219.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $192.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $193.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.67.

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

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 203.77%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the business’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 directly owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other American Tower news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total value of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by 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.