Cottage Street Advisors LLC Sells 3,019 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Cottage Street Advisors LLC cut its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 47.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,403 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,019 shares during the period. Cottage Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Account Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Account Management LLC now owns 19,050 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,494,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. purchased a new stake in American Tower in the fourth quarter worth about $1,068,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in American Tower by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 6,803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,248,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 6,443 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.43.

American Tower Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE AMT opened at $209.44 on Wednesday. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. 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 company has a market capitalization of $97.90 billion, a PE ratio of 88.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $197.32 and a 200 day moving average of $204.91.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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 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 directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate 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.