NFJ Investment Group LLC Sells 11,340 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

NFJ Investment Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 10.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 96,580 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 11,340 shares during the quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $22,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Balentine LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter worth $586,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,156,000. Czech National Bank increased its position in American Tower by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 95,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,128,000 after buying an additional 6,163 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its holdings in American Tower by 46.8% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 25,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,980,000 after acquiring an additional 8,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 268.2% in the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 4,463 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 3,251 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMT shares. Scotiabank lowered their target price on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.54.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $208.02. 304,511 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,309,675. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $215.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.83. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. Analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

About American Tower

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.