Wendell David Associates Inc. Sells 4,560 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Wendell David Associates Inc. lessened its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 11.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 36,084 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,560 shares during the quarter. Wendell David Associates Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $6,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 valued at $4,924,091,000 after purchasing an additional 635,726 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in American Tower by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,599,074,000 after acquiring an additional 204,426 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in American Tower by 41.8% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 worth $1,211,397,000 after purchasing an additional 243,061 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMT. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.67.

American Tower Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $185.24 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $86.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.16, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.47. 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 (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

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.