American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Metis Global Partners LLC

Metis Global Partners LLC reduced its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,977 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,353 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $4,960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 41.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,299,306 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,144,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541,029 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in American Tower by 2,329.8% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,329,779 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $218,682,000 after buying an additional 1,275,052 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in American Tower by 16,195.9% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 849,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,833,560,000 after buying an additional 844,128 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 5.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,984,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,135,227,000 after acquiring an additional 691,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in American Tower by 22.9% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,255,988 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $535,447,000 after purchasing an additional 607,199 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

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

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of American Tower stock traded down $3.05 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $178.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,294,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,467,073. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $154.58 and a one year high of $219.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $189.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.80. The stock has a market cap of $83.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by ($0.47). The company had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 18.45% and a net margin of 18.42%. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.54 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 9.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on AMT. Mizuho began coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price for the company. Raymond James upgraded American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.91.

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.