Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Sells 213,240 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 95.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,096 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 213,240 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AMT. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in American Tower by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $975,065,000 after buying an additional 107,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $981,455,000 after buying an additional 38,436 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

American Tower Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $211.02 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $205.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The company has a market cap of $98.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

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

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AMT shares. Barclays reduced their target price on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.29.

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.