Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Decreases Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lessened its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 255,104 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,115 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.05% of American Tower worth $49,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Gold Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new position in American Tower in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on AMT shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $246.00 price objective (up previously from $225.00) on shares of American Tower in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $230.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.14.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at $7,424,177.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at $7,424,177.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total value of $2,333,866.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,070,789.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,227 shares of company stock worth $8,497,458 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Tower Stock Down 0.6 %

AMT stock traded down $1.24 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $219.14. 684,852 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,348,294. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $208.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $154.58 and a 12 month high of $236.13. The company has a market capitalization of $102.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.81.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.52). American Tower had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 23.06%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 146.61%.

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.