Swiss National Bank Sells 41,400 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Swiss National Bank lowered its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,457,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 41,400 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.31% of American Tower worth $314,688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alera Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Alera Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,105 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $705,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,730,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,531,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 459 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMT. Raymond James upgraded American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their target price on American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Mizuho started coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on American Tower from $243.00 to $223.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.91.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other American Tower news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total value of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,532,080.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock traded up $1.58 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $178.42. 1,309,657 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,436,915. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $189.49 and a 200 day moving average of $194.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $154.58 and a 52-week high of $219.10. The company has a market cap of $83.21 billion, a PE ratio of 40.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.71.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by ($0.47). American Tower had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The company had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 146.61%.

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.