Securian Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Securian Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 25,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 720 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $4,606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its position in American Tower by 4.2% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in American Tower by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in American Tower by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its position in American Tower by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Sunburst Financial Group LLC raised its position in American Tower by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 1,354 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AMT. Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.29.

American Tower Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $206.67 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.05. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56. 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 stock has a market cap of $96.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.20, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company 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. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 141.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.