CCM Investment Advisers LLC Trims Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

CCM Investment Advisers LLC reduced its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,992 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,528 shares during the quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $2,324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in American Tower by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,248,812,000 after purchasing an additional 965,938 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in American Tower by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,416,004,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839,570 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in American Tower by 36.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,794,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,737,760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,336,501 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in American Tower by 41.8% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in American Tower by 8.9% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,705,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $720,206,000 after purchasing an additional 302,676 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com upgraded American Tower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Barclays raised their target price on American Tower from $223.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total transaction of $2,333,866.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,070,789.42. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of American Tower 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,070,789.42. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $4,953,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,843 shares in the company, valued at $14,223,890. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,723 shares of company stock valued at $7,795,397 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $217.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.83. 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 one year low of $157.25 and a one year high of $243.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $228.87 and its 200-day moving average is $205.21.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.52). The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 23.06% and a net margin of 21.95%. American Tower’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.13 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 121.80%.

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.