Quadrant Capital Group LLC Cuts Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Quadrant Capital Group LLC lowered its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,736 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 277 shares during the quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,052,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in American Tower by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,342,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,074,956,000 after buying an additional 129,192 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,164,851,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in American Tower by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $975,065,000 after purchasing an additional 107,345 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in American Tower by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,164,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $947,295,000 after purchasing an additional 742,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its position in American Tower by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,947,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $357,208,000 after purchasing an additional 10,343 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on American Tower in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $232.07.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of AMT opened at $220.43 on Monday. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $202.22 and its 200 day moving average is $203.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.04 billion, a PE ratio of 93.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 141.37%.

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.