Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Sells 7,394 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 27.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,678 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 7,394 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $3,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in American Tower by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $206,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Calamos Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunburst Financial Group LLC increased its position in American Tower by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 1,354 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMT. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank cut their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value 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. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Tower Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $212.49 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $189.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $206.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.66, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 134.72%.

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.