Parallel Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Parallel Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,280 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,682 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $3,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after buying an additional 635,726 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,599,074,000 after buying an additional 204,426 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of American Tower by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $975,065,000 after acquiring an additional 107,345 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of American Tower by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $981,455,000 after acquiring an additional 38,436 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup raised their target price on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $228.79.

American Tower Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $213.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $99.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $205.61. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results 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 for 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 for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. Analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.