Berkeley Capital Partners LLC Trims Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Berkeley Capital Partners LLC decreased its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 50.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,738 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,783 shares during the period. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,743,000 after acquiring an additional 314,769 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth about $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter worth about $1,102,000. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares during the period. Finally, CCLA Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 432,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,344,000 after acquiring an additional 22,523 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $214.19 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $195.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $205.66. 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 has a market cap of $100.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.38, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. American Tower’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on 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. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. JMP Securities assumed coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.79.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other 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 value 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.