Parallel Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Parallel Advisors LLC reduced its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 11.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,280 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,682 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $3,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Activest Wealth Management raised its position in American Tower by 431.0% during the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC raised its position in American Tower by 51.0% during the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 222 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in American Tower by 49.3% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank reduced 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $228.79.

American Tower Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $213.17 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $99.65 billion, a PE ratio of 89.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $205.61. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. 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 Activity

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

American Tower Company 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.