Lbp Am Sa Trims Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Lbp Am Sa reduced its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 77.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 31,188 shares during the quarter. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,677,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $29,658,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 1,783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $327,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 12,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,505 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 94,965 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $17,418,000 after acquiring an additional 1,118 shares during the period. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 444,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $81,514,000 after acquiring an additional 1,805 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank cut their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower 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 transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $211.02 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $192.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $205.82. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year 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. The stock has a market cap of $98.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 141.37%.

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.