Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 209,601 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,066 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $38,443,000 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 AMT. Balentine LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at $586,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of American Tower by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,743,000 after purchasing an additional 314,769 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth about $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter worth about $1,102,000. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in American Tower by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after buying an additional 1,995 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Mizuho decreased 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 note on Wednesday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.00.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $203.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $95.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.01. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.