Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Acquires 933 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,304 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 933 shares during the period. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $2,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 269.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE AMT traded up $0.79 on Thursday, reaching $181.11. 79,700 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,174,272. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.68. The stock has a market cap of $84.63 billion, a PE ratio of 76.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Four 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.67.

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.