Apriem Advisors Sells 28,258 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Apriem Advisors reduced its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 37.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 46,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 28,258 shares during the period. Apriem Advisors’ holdings in American Tower were worth $8,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of American Tower by 15.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 16,857 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,920,000 after acquiring an additional 2,233 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its position in American Tower by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,737 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 269.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 12,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Childress Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 4.1% during the third quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,137 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $497,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower 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 completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AMT shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. 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. Mizuho lowered their target price on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.21.

American Tower Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of AMT stock opened at $200.75 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $186.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.96. 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 company has a market cap of $93.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 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.