Bailard Inc. Decreases Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Bailard Inc. lowered its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 58.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 9,847 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares during the period. Adelante Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,160,890 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 635,726 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its position in American Tower by 270.4% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 466,772 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $108,553,000 after purchasing an additional 340,742 shares during the period. Finally, Brookfield Corp ON boosted its position in American Tower by 88.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 710,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $165,286,000 after purchasing an additional 333,209 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup decreased their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.21.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $209.63 on Tuesday. 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 one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $206.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.45, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 134.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.