Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Decreases Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC decreased its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,058 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 144 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in American Tower by 431.0% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 51.0% in the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 222 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 49.3% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Up 2.7 %

American Tower stock opened at $212.49 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.29 billion, a PE ratio of 89.66, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $206.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 134.72%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. JMP Securities assumed coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Mizuho reduced their price target on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.21.

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.