Bessemer Group Inc. Reduces Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Bessemer Group Inc. trimmed its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 36.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 305,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 174,161 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned 0.07% of American Tower worth $56,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Glenview Trust co lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 7,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its holdings in American Tower by 4.2% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of American Tower by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.07.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $207.83 on Thursday. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The stock has a market cap of $97.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. 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 50 day moving average price of $204.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $203.20.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. Equities analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 141.37%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.