American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Loomis Sayles & Co. L P

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lessened its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 29.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 31,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 13,273 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in American Tower were worth $5,815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Adelante Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of American Tower by 2,723.4% in the third quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $279,890,000 after buying an additional 1,160,890 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in American Tower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $193,246,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in American Tower by 456.9% in 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 last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the 3rd 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. Finally, Brookfield Corp ON boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 88.3% during the third quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 710,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $165,286,000 after purchasing an additional 333,209 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Tower Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of AMT opened at $215.52 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $198.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.58. 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 stock has a market cap of $100.74 billion, a PE ratio of 90.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. 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 presently 141.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AMT. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. 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 report on Monday, March 10th. JMP Securities assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $229.43.

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.