Wells Fargo & Company MN Reduces Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Wells Fargo & Company MN reduced its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,206,867 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 300,988 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in American Tower were worth $588,171,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,342,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,074,956,000 after buying an additional 129,192 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $1,164,851,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in American Tower by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $975,065,000 after acquiring an additional 107,345 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in American Tower by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,164,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $947,295,000 after purchasing an additional 742,632 shares during the period. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,947,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $357,208,000 after purchasing an additional 10,343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AMT shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.07.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $220.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $103.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.01, a PEG 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $202.22 and its 200 day moving average is $204.19. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. Research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

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 value 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 approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.