Kestra Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $48,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AMT. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 7.6% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 9,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,310,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth about $260,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 15.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 16,857 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,920,000 after acquiring an additional 2,233 shares during the period. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.4% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth about $230,000. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $191.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.73, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMT. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.79.

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.