Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Purchases 195 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,440 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 195 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 269.0% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its stake in American Tower by 431.0% during the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMT. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank cut their target price on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.31.

American Tower Stock Up 3.7 %

AMT opened at $192.01 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.24. The company has a market capitalization of $89.72 billion, a PE ratio of 81.01, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

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

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.