American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Position Decreased by Washington Trust Advisors Inc.

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,900 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,828 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $10,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 2,723.4% in the third quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $279,890,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160,890 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter worth approximately $193,246,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,924,091,000 after purchasing an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 270.4% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 466,772 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $108,553,000 after purchasing an additional 340,742 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AMT shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Tower Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $209.01 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $206.45. The company has a market cap of $97.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.19, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

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.