Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 235,498 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $43,193,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Balentine LLC bought a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter valued at $586,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in American Tower by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,743,000 after acquiring an additional 314,769 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter valued at $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at $1,102,000. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in American Tower by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $205.61 on Friday. 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 moving average of $187.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $206.81. The company has a market capitalization of $96.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84. 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 (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders 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 3.15%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 273.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AMT. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.