American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Boston Family Office LLC

Boston Family Office LLC reduced its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 127,574 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,908 shares during the quarter. American Tower makes up 1.6% of Boston Family Office LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Boston Family Office LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $23,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMT. State Street Corp increased its stake in American Tower by 3.1% in the third 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 boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,342,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,074,956,000 after buying an additional 129,192 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $1,164,851,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in American Tower by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $975,065,000 after acquiring an additional 107,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in American Tower by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,164,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $947,295,000 after acquiring an additional 742,632 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $217.78 on Tuesday. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company’s fifty day moving average is $199.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.20.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 141.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMT has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target 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.