Whittier Trust Co. Sells 1,377 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Whittier Trust Co. trimmed its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,594 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,377 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $3,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Glenview Trust co boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 7,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 4.2% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $398,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’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 value of $3,000,283.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho cut their price objective 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, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $229.43.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $216.41 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $195.99 and a 200-day moving average of $205.61. 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 company has a market capitalization of $101.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released 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. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

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.