Nuveen Asset Management LLC Decreases Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,773,571 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 203,189 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned 1.02% of American Tower worth $875,521,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of American Tower by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 702 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in American Tower by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 101,318 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,583,000 after acquiring an additional 6,169 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 188.3% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 4,950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $908,000 after acquiring an additional 3,233 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in American Tower by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,602 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AMT shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.27.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $204.57 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $215.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $201.68. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $172.51 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The firm has a market cap of $95.63 billion, a PE ratio of 86.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.86. 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 (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.34. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.79 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 174.81%.

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.