American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Stake Lessened by Wealth Effects LLC

Wealth Effects LLC decreased its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,304 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Wealth Effects LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Vantage Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,868,000. Vert Asset Management LLC grew its position in American Tower by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 102,371 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,776,000 after purchasing an additional 9,511 shares in the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. increased its stake in American Tower by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,654,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the period. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in American Tower by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,663 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $855,000 after buying an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 383,917 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,414,000 after buying an additional 60,801 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $192.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.72 billion, a PE ratio of 81.01, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.24.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AMT. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. JMP Securities initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.23.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.