Howe & Rusling Inc. Has $383,000 Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Howe & Rusling Inc. decreased its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,086 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 219 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth $34,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower 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 sale, the chief financial officer now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Up 2.1 %

American Tower stock opened at $214.38 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $198.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $205.01. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.21 billion, a PE ratio of 90.46, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 141.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMT. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased 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 report on Monday, February 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $229.43.

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.