Pitcairn Co. Cuts Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Pitcairn Co. reduced its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,585 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 139 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in American Tower during the third quarter worth $34,000. Graney & King LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 222 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on AMT shares. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.07.

American Tower Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $220.43 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $202.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.01, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. Equities 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. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 141.37%.

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.