American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Simon Quick Advisors LLC

Simon Quick Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 20.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,454 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 370 shares during the quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMT. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 41.8% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,333,000 after buying an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC acquired a new position in American Tower during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,417,000. Delta Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 1,303 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC grew its position in American Tower by 1,984.8% in the second quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 32,898 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,395,000 after acquiring an additional 31,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Makena Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,797,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Tower Stock Up 0.6 %

AMT stock opened at $186.31 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $192.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The firm has a market cap of $87.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.61, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. Research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho cut their price target on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays reduced their price target on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.42.

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.