Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC Reduces Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC decreased its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,847 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,420 shares during the quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 269.0% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the third quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management grew 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 acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $186.20 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $191.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $210.97. The company has a market capitalization of $87.01 billion, a PE ratio of 78.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

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

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMT. Scotiabank cut their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JMP Securities initiated coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.23.

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.