Ausbil Investment Management Ltd Reduces Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Ausbil Investment Management Ltd lowered its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 69.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,309 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 49,971 shares during the quarter. American Tower comprises 2.5% of Ausbil Investment Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in American Tower were worth $4,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. FMR LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 2,723.4% during the 3rd quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $279,890,000 after buying an additional 1,160,890 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 23,224.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 997,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $231,941,000 after buying an additional 993,061 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 22,242.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 778,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,811,330,000 after buying an additional 775,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in American Tower by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,924,091,000 after buying an additional 635,726 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at American Tower

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 value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMT. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities initiated coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.23.

American Tower Stock Down 0.5 %

AMT opened at $184.91 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $190.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $210.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted 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). American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

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.