Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Trims Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,424 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $3,369,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.6% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 6,108 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,207,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $682,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. raised its holdings in American Tower by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. now owns 2,409 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 6,442 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,273,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the period. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 9.1% during the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 26,468 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,230,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of American Tower stock traded down $3.13 on Friday, reaching $222.80. 2,054,209 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,271,894. The firm has a market cap of $104.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.83. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $162.55 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company’s 50-day moving average is $228.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $207.66.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.52). American Tower had a return on equity of 23.06% and a net margin of 21.95%. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.46 earnings per share. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 146.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total transaction of $508,020.33. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,424,177.89. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total transaction of $2,333,866.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,070,789.42. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at $7,424,177.89. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,723 shares of company stock worth $7,795,397 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AMT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho lifted 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. TD Cowen increased their target price on American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $230.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.92.

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.