American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by First Financial Bankshares Inc

First Financial Bankshares Inc lowered its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 10.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 127,438 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 15,652 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in American Tower were worth $23,373,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in American Tower by 431.0% during the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in American Tower by 113.9% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 261 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $228.79.

American Tower Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:AMT opened at $214.82 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $100.42 billion, a PE ratio of 90.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $205.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

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. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders 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 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 141.37%.

American Tower 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.