Insider Selling: American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) CFO Sells 16,567 Shares of Stock

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was 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 owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

American Tower Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE AMT traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $190.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,882,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,554,349. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $193.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.32.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.58 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.42%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 6,853 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 140.6% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $678,000 after buying an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of American Tower by 113.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 59,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,549,000 after buying an additional 31,616 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in American Tower by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,449,000 after acquiring an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in American Tower by 4.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 38,647 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,757 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.67.

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.