American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Stake Lowered by Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. decreased its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,006 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,940 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $10,455,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in American Tower by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted 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 valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in American Tower by 41.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 4.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,211,397,000 after buying an additional 243,061 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

AMT opened at $189.94 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.51. The firm has a market cap of $88.76 billion, a PE ratio of 80.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.67.

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.