American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC cut its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,476,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 303,558 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $637,612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Partners Group Holding AG increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 378,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $69,438,000 after buying an additional 28,988 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in American Tower by 28.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 314,769 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,102,000. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,995 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AMT. Citigroup increased their price target on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. JMP Securities began coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho decreased their price target on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $229.43.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’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 owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:AMT opened at $215.52 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $204.58. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56.

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

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s payout ratio is 141.37%.

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.