Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Lowers Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co trimmed its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 42,625 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,756 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in American Tower were worth $7,818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 49.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its stake in American Tower by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,215 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 252.2% during the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 4,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,437 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 44,973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,459,000 after purchasing an additional 6,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth about $215,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Tower Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:AMT opened at $209.91 on Thursday. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56. The business’s 50-day moving average is $197.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.94. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $98.12 billion, a PE ratio of 88.57, 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 141.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AMT shares. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $229.43.

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.