Invera Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $309,000 Investment in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Invera Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $309,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alera Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in American Tower by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Alera Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,105 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Allstate Corp boosted its position in American Tower by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 1,750 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 1.3% during the third quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $705,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.5% during the third quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,730,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Augustine Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,531,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at $12,953,352.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total value of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AMT. Barclays boosted their price objective on American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.36.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE:AMT traded up $3.37 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $175.06. 2,113,991 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,418,816. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $190.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.67. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $154.58 and a fifty-two week high of $219.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($1.16). American Tower had a net margin of 13.31% and a return on equity of 12.80%. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.34 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 203.77%.

About American Tower

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.