Cottage Street Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Cottage Street Advisors LLC cut its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 47.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,403 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,019 shares during the quarter. Cottage Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at about $254,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 49.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,215 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd increased its position in American Tower by 252.2% during the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 4,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 3,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in American Tower during the third quarter valued at $1,147,000. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Down 1.6 %

AMT opened at $209.44 on Wednesday. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $197.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $204.91. 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 company has a market capitalization of $97.90 billion, a PE ratio of 88.37, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. This is a positive change 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 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities began coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Barclays increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.43.

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.