Financial Counselors Inc. Sells 5,734 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Financial Counselors Inc. lowered its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 127,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 5,734 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $23,402,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 2,723.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,160,890 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $193,246,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 456.9% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,124,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $206,269,000 after purchasing an additional 922,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,924,091,000 after acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. 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, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $209.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $97.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $197.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.55 billion for 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. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 141.37%.

American Tower 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.