American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Stake Trimmed by Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.

Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. cut its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Balentine LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at $586,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in American Tower by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,743,000 after buying an additional 314,769 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,156,000. Czech National Bank boosted its position in American Tower by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 95,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,128,000 after acquiring an additional 6,163 shares during the period. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in American Tower by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

American Tower Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of AMT stock opened at $185.17 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.04. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $86.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.13, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on AMT. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Barclays reduced their price objective on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.42.

About American Tower

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.