First Financial Bank Trust Division Makes New $2.30 Million Investment in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

First Financial Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 9,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $2,299,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMT. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in American Tower in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the first quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In related news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $4,953,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,843 shares in the company, valued at $14,223,890. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other American Tower news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $4,953,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,223,890. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,424,177.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,723 shares of company stock worth $7,795,397. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on AMT. Mizuho increased their price objective on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.00.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $231.94 on Thursday. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $154.58 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $228.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.83.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.52). The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 23.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 146.61%.

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.