Iowa State Bank Raises Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Iowa State Bank boosted its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,843 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 324 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in American Tower were worth $2,906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Balentine LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth approximately $586,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth $1,156,000. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of American Tower by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 95,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,128,000 after buying an additional 6,163 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 46.8% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 25,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,980,000 after buying an additional 8,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in American Tower by 268.2% during the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 4,463 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 3,251 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Down 0.5 %

AMT stock traded down $0.92 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $181.64. The company had a trading volume of 985,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,956,822. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The company has a market capitalization of $84.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.49.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. Analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on AMT shares. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho raised their target price on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.08.

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.