Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Sells 2,053 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. decreased its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 24.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,361 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,053 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 25.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 2,723.4% during the 3rd quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $279,890,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160,890 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter worth $193,246,000. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,924,091,000 after buying an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of American Tower by 270.4% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 466,772 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $108,553,000 after buying an additional 340,742 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on AMT. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup cut their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.21.

American Tower Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE:AMT opened at $212.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.40. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56. The company has a market capitalization of $99.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.66, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm 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 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 134.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.