Fifth Third Bancorp Lowers Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Fifth Third Bancorp lowered its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 133,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,293 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in American Tower were worth $24,503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake in American Tower by 269.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in American Tower by 431.0% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $185.17 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.13, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. 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 has a 50 day simple moving average of $192.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.04. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56.

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

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 273.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank decreased their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Barclays lowered their price target on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.