Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 60,801 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 18.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 383,917 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 60,801 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $70,414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in American Tower by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after purchasing an additional 635,726 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,599,074,000 after acquiring an additional 204,426 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in American Tower by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,211,397,000 after acquiring an additional 243,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in American Tower by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $981,455,000 after purchasing an additional 38,436 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.31.

American Tower Price Performance

American Tower stock opened at $192.01 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.01, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $192.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.24.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 273.42%.

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.