Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Cuts Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lessened its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,605 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $13,435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. FMR LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 2,723.4% in the third quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $279,890,000 after buying an additional 1,160,890 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $193,246,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 456.9% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,124,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $206,269,000 after acquiring an additional 922,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $206.67 on Thursday. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $191.23 and a 200 day moving average of $206.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $96.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.20, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.29.

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.