Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 14,801 Shares of SBA Communications Co. (NASDAQ:SBAC)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in SBA Communications Co. (NASDAQ:SBAC) by 49.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,033 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,801 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in SBA Communications were worth $11,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SBAC. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in SBA Communications by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,801,806 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $560,838,000 after acquiring an additional 21,792 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in SBA Communications by 140.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,143,877 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $429,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,252,764 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in SBA Communications by 115.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,358,037 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $271,838,000 after acquiring an additional 727,163 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in SBA Communications by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,209,592 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $242,124,000 after acquiring an additional 12,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in SBA Communications by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,133,898 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $226,972,000 after acquiring an additional 6,131 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.35% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary S. Chan sold 1,977 shares of SBA Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.99, for a total value of $430,966.23. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,622 shares in the company, valued at $1,007,549.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

SBA Communications Stock Performance

Shares of SBAC stock opened at $198.30 on Wednesday. SBA Communications Co. has a 52 week low of $185.23 and a 52 week high of $263.08. The company has a market capitalization of $21.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $210.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $222.84.

SBA Communications (NASDAQ:SBAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The technology company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by ($0.36). SBA Communications had a net margin of 18.51% and a negative return on equity of 9.70%. The business had revenue of $675.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $682.11 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.11 earnings per share. SBA Communications’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that SBA Communications Co. will post 12.61 earnings per share for the current year.

SBA Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is an increase from SBA Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. SBA Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on SBAC shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of SBA Communications from $285.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of SBA Communications from $260.00 to $255.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of SBA Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $268.00.

SBA Communications Company Profile

SBA Communications Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure including towers, buildings, rooftops, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells. With a portfolio of more than 39,000 communications sites throughout the Americas, Africa and in Asia, SBA is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol SBAC.