Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,808,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 122,265 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.03% of American Tower worth $1,037,975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Alera Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Alera Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,105 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $705,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $1,730,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in shares of American Tower by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 459 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.91.

American Tower Price Performance

American Tower stock traded down $0.49 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $180.79. The company had a trading volume of 739,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,448,874. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $188.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.09. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $154.58 and a 1-year high of $219.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.31 billion, a PE ratio of 41.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by ($0.47). The firm had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.79 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 9.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 146.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total value of $128,450.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,345,422. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total value of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,264 shares of company stock worth $3,458,757. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Company 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.