American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Holdings Cut by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 29.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,084,243 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,296,432 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,482,731,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMT. Glenview Trust co grew its stake in American Tower by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 7,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $332,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its position in American Tower by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $398,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMT has been the subject of several recent research reports. JMP Securities assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $229.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 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 approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $215.52 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $100.74 billion, a PE ratio of 90.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $198.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.34. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect 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 paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

About American Tower

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.