Novare Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Novare Capital Management LLC cut its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,080 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 769 shares during the quarter. Novare Capital Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $6,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 269.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 431.0% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AMT shares. Scotiabank lowered their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.42.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $185.17 on Friday. 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 $86.53 billion, a PE ratio of 78.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $192.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.04. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. Analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.