Victory Capital Management Inc. Purchases 4,485 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 181,773 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 4,485 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $39,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AMT. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 41.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,299,306 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,144,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541,029 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of American Tower by 2,329.8% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,329,779 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $218,682,000 after buying an additional 1,275,052 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 16,195.9% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 849,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,833,560,000 after acquiring an additional 844,128 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in American Tower by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,984,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,135,227,000 after acquiring an additional 691,934 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 22.9% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,255,988 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $535,447,000 after acquiring an additional 607,199 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Raymond James raised American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.91.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $178.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.94. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $154.58 and a 52-week high of $219.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.33 billion, a PE ratio of 40.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 18.45% and a net margin of 18.42%. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.54 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 9.96 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were paid 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 3.63%. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 146.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $962,584.84. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,532,080.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.