SageView Advisory Group LLC Decreases Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

SageView Advisory Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,918 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,170 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Partners Group Holding AG grew its stake in 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 valued at $69,438,000 after acquiring an additional 28,988 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of American Tower by 28.5% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 314,769 shares in the last quarter. TigerOak Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,102,000. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in American Tower by 29.0% during the fourth 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 boosted its stake in American Tower by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 432,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,344,000 after buying an additional 22,523 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT stock opened at $213.25 on Monday. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business’s 50-day moving average is $205.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $202.65.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 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 firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 141.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AMT. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho cut 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. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $232.07.

American Tower 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.