American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Stock Position Lowered by Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lessened its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 69.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 515 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in American Tower were worth $42,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth $115,000. Commerce Bank raised its position in American Tower by 1.4% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 18,168 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,225,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in American Tower by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 45,720 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,633,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in American Tower by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $637,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Advisors LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 51.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 10,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,395,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

American Tower stock opened at $216.41 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $195.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $205.61. The stock has a market cap of $101.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 141.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup boosted their target price on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, JMP Securities began coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $229.43.

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.