American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Stake Decreased by Atlas Capital Advisors Inc.

Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $238,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Partners Group Holding AG grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 378,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $69,438,000 after purchasing an additional 28,988 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in American Tower by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,743,000 after buying an additional 314,769 shares in the last quarter. TigerOak Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,102,000. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 432,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,344,000 after acquiring an additional 22,523 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT opened at $220.43 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $202.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $204.19. 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 stock has a market cap of $103.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.01, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87.

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 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 analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 141.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $232.07.

Insider Activity

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.