Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Trims Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lowered its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,728 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 63 shares during the period. American Tower makes up approximately 1.2% of Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $13,425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMT. Balentine LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth about $586,000. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in American Tower by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 95,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,128,000 after acquiring an additional 6,163 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in American Tower by 13.8% in the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 38,528 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,613,000 after buying an additional 4,660 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 27.7% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,401 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,029,000 after acquiring an additional 4,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in American Tower by 29.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 41,284 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,157,000 after buying an additional 9,275 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Tower Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of AMT opened at $201.80 on Friday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The business has a 50-day moving average of $226.12 and a 200 day moving average of $209.83. The firm has a market cap of $94.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.84.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AMT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

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.