American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Position Lessened by NorthRock Partners LLC

NorthRock Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,768 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 351 shares during the quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMT. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in American Tower during the first quarter worth $463,000. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in American Tower during the first quarter worth $465,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in American Tower by 72.6% during the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 202 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in American Tower during the first quarter worth $276,000. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. increased its position in American Tower by 12.4% during the first quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 2,090 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AMT shares. Barclays raised their price target on American Tower from $223.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.85.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT opened at $213.86 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $227.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $209.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.89 billion, a PE ratio of 90.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. American Tower’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.42%.

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.