Hantz Financial Services Inc. Trims Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Hantz Financial Services Inc. lowered its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,888 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,141 shares during the quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $5,115,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMT. State Street Corp grew its holdings 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 worth $4,924,091,000 after purchasing an additional 635,726 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 25.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 4.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,211,397,000 after purchasing an additional 243,061 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 0.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $981,455,000 after purchasing an additional 38,436 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AMT shares. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut 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, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of AMT stock opened at $183.87 on Thursday. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $191.66 and its 200 day moving average is $210.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

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.