American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 22.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 403,783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 120,266 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $74,058,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in American Tower by 113.9% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 261 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $229.43.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $212.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $196.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $205.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $99.45 billion, a PE ratio of 89.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share 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. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.20%. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 141.37%.

About American Tower

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.