Argent Advisors Inc. Sells 88 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Argent Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,549 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 88 shares during the period. Argent Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMT. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,310,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 177,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,383,000 after purchasing an additional 30,499 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of American Tower by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 130,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,273,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 412.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 6,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strengthening Families & Communities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 10,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,447,000 after acquiring an additional 778 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank decreased 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 report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $228.79.

American Tower Stock Up 1.1 %

American Tower stock opened at $213.17 on Tuesday. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $192.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $205.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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.