Sandy Spring Bank Increases Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Sandy Spring Bank raised its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,243 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 532 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in American Tower were worth $9,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Glenview Trust co boosted its stake in American Tower by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 7,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in American Tower by 4.2% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $398,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Tower Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $213.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $194.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $205.60. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The stock has a market cap of $99.95 billion, a PE ratio of 90.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.79.

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.