Ballentine Partners LLC Sells 435 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Ballentine Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,591 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 435 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMT. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. lifted its position in American Tower by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 4,833 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $886,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 19,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,647,000 after buying an additional 832 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 936,011 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,674,000 after buying an additional 37,692 shares in the last quarter. LVW Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 76.9% during the 4th quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 2,745 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 1,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Tower Stock Down 0.2 %

AMT opened at $189.94 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $192.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.67.

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.