Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Grows Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 89.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,936 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,804 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,089,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in American Tower in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in American Tower by 431.0% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.21.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were 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 owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $205.61 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.08 billion, a PE ratio of 86.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 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.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. American Tower’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 134.72%.

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.