I was able to sneak in another transaction before February came to a close. This move is hot off the press, too, fresh from today.
I wasn’t planning on any more transactions this month, but with a quick dip in this stock’s price today on the heels of its earnings release, I decided to make my move.
It was a small addition, but it keeps building my position… and my Portfolio.
Let’s check out the purchase details…
American Tower (AMT)
I only established my AMT position a little over a year ago. After that initial purchase, I added to the position four times, each as successively lower prices.
My additions were small though, and thus AMT was still my 7th smallest Portfolio position.
As I’ve noted in previous posts, I have too many small positions (at least more than I want)… ones well south of a 1% weighting. In these cases, I’m on the lookout for a chance to grow the position and make it a more substantial holding. With the stock dipping in price after announcing earnings, I saw the opportunity to build my position, so I pounced.
While things aren’t the rosiest for AMT right now (Funds From Operations (FFO) growth the past couple of years has been minimal), analysts see things slowly picking up moving forward.
On 2/27/24, I bought 2 shares of AMT at $181.75, for a total of $363.50. The stock was yielding 3.74% at that price. This yield is better than one percentage point above my current Portfolio yield of 2.69%.
My AMT position got 10.81% bigger with this addition, bringing my share total to 20.502 shares. The purchase also lowered my cost basis by $1.11/share, to $192.01/share.
My Portfolio’s annual forward dividend income increased by $13.60 with the purchase. My quarterly AMT dividend has now risen to $34.85.
AMT became my 2nd largest REIT holding with this purchase, surpassing my NNN REIT (NNN) position. It has a way to go to reach my largest REIT, Realty Income (O).
Also stemming from this addition, AMT jumped four spots in my value rankings… and worked its way out of my Bottom 10, just barely.
With AMT being an existing holding, the number of stocks in my Portfolio held steady at 59.
Summary
I thought I’d already made my last Portfolio transaction of the month. However, after a decline in the price of AMT today, I pulled the trigger on buying a couple of shares. The stock price recovered rather nicely by day’s end, so I was glad I acted swiftly.
Buying the 2 shares allowed AMT to become my 2nd largest REIT holding, and get it out of my Bottom 10 Portfolio holdings overall. My AMT position has now topped 20 shares.
With this purchase, I was able to lower the cost basis of my AMT position, too.
This buy resulted in an investment of $363.50 into my Portfolio. and increased my forward dividend income by $13.60.
I’ve got more AMT additions in my short-term future if the price doesn’t jump up too quickly. Right now, anything that lowers my ~$192 cost basis would be acceptable, but I’d prefer to buy below the $182 level I just managed.
Is AMT already a part of your portfolio? Might you have a preference for fellow cell tower REIT Crown Castle Inc (CCI) instead? Please share in the comments!