KBC Group NV Has $90.88 Million Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

KBC Group NV increased its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 495,515 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,743 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in American Tower were worth $90,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Balentine LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at $586,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted 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 worth $260,743,000 after buying an additional 314,769 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,156,000. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 95,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,128,000 after acquiring an additional 6,163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings 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 worth $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,995 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AMT shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $185.17 on Monday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $192.08 and a 200-day moving average of $211.14. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The company has a market capitalization of $86.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.13, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.42%.

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.