Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. Purchases New Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,091 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 41.0% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,299,306 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,144,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541,029 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 worth $218,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275,052 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in American Tower by 16,195.9% during 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 buying an additional 844,128 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in American Tower by 5.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,984,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,135,227,000 after buying an additional 691,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,255,988 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $535,447,000 after acquiring an additional 607,199 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AMT shares. Raymond James raised American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $243.00 to $223.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.91.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock traded up $2.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $181.74. 3,130,327 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,879,452. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $154.58 and a one year high of $219.10. The company has a market cap of $84.75 billion, a PE ratio of 41.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $189.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.43 by ($0.47). The company had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 18.45% and a net margin of 18.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.54 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 9.96 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 146.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of American Tower 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About American Tower

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.