ClearBridge Investments Ltd Sells 885,534 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

ClearBridge Investments Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 72.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 332,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 885,534 shares during the quarter. American Tower accounts for 1.6% of ClearBridge Investments Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. ClearBridge Investments Ltd’s holdings in American Tower were worth $61,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. State Street Corp increased its holdings in American Tower by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after buying an additional 635,726 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in American Tower by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,599,074,000 after buying an additional 204,426 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,164,851,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $975,065,000 after purchasing an additional 107,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $981,455,000 after acquiring an additional 38,436 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on AMT. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. JMP Securities started coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $229.43.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Up 0.7 %

AMT opened at $215.52 on Friday. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $198.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.58. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The company has a market cap of $100.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.94, 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

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.