Natixis Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Natixis Advisors LLC trimmed its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 12.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,539 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 21,408 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $28,711,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 431.0% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of 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.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $213.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $99.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $192.99 and a 200-day moving average of $205.61. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 141.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 note on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price 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. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $228.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.