Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Acquires New Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,936 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $418,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 57.7% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 35,751 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,718,000 after purchasing an additional 13,074 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.5% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 177,288 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,155,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in American Tower by 16.1% in the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,821 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,001,000. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in American Tower by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 159,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,499,000 after acquiring an additional 29,848 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Tower news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Tower Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $172.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.30 billion, a PE ratio of 54.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $193.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $193.74. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $154.58 and a 52-week high of $219.10.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($1.16). The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.74 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 13.31% and a return on equity of 12.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.34 EPS. On average, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.05 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 203.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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 note on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.36.

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.