Lbp Am Sa Cuts Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Lbp Am Sa lessened its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 77.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 2,723.4% during the 3rd quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $279,890,000 after buying an additional 1,160,890 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $193,246,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in American Tower by 456.9% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,124,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $206,269,000 after buying an additional 922,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in American Tower by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,924,091,000 after buying an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup boosted their target price on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. JMP Securities initiated coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.29.

American Tower Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:AMT opened at $211.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $192.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $205.82. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given 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 is currently 141.37%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About American Tower

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.