American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Haverford Trust Co

Haverford Trust Co cut its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 179,729 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 7,873 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in American Tower were worth $32,964,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AMT. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares during the period. Adelante Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 2,723.4% in the 3rd quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $279,890,000 after buying an additional 1,160,890 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $193,246,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in American Tower by 456.9% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,124,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,269,000 after acquiring an additional 922,701 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

American Tower stock opened at $216.41 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $205.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.31, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho decreased 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. Barclays upped their target price on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. 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 research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.43.

Insider Activity

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.