RWC Asset Management LLP Sells 14,302 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

RWC Asset Management LLP lessened its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 250,598 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 14,302 shares during the quarter. American Tower comprises 3.3% of RWC Asset Management LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. RWC Asset Management LLP’s holdings in American Tower were worth $54,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMT. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 41.0% during the 4th 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. lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 2,329.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,275,052 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,833,560,000 after acquiring an additional 844,128 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 5.6% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,255,988 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $535,447,000 after acquiring an additional 607,199 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.36.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,532,080.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Tower Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE AMT traded down $1.21 during trading on Friday, hitting $171.69. The stock had a trading volume of 1,701,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,597,943. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $154.58 and a 12 month high of $219.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $80.07 billion, a PE ratio of 53.97, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $190.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $193.97.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($1.16). The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.74 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 13.31%. The business’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.34 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 203.77%.

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.