US Bancorp DE Cuts Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

US Bancorp DE reduced its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,096,154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 50,701 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in American Tower were worth $201,047,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMT. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 1,687 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth about $224,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth about $66,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 3,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $738,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Values Added Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth about $309,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMT shares. JMP Securities started coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price 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. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.21.

American Tower Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE AMT opened at $205.61 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. 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 50 day simple moving average of $187.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.81. The stock has a market cap of $96.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84.

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

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

Insider Activity

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