Bragg Financial Advisors Inc Sells 692 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Bragg Financial Advisors Inc lowered its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,277 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 692 shares during the period. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in American Tower were worth $4,636,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Glenview Trust co increased its position in shares of American Tower by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 7,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunburst Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 1,354 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley began coverage on American Tower in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho lowered their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.07.

American Tower Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $213.25 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. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $205.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $202.65.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. 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 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.