American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Berkshire Bank

Berkshire Bank cut its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 84.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,683 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 8,921 shares during the period. Berkshire Bank’s holdings in American Tower were worth $309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the period. Creative Planning lifted its position in American Tower by 5.8% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 70,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,731,000 after purchasing an additional 3,861 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in American Tower by 5.8% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 58,617 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,394,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in American Tower by 90.6% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 4,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wallace Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower in the second quarter valued at $550,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AMT shares. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JMP Securities started coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.31.

American Tower Trading Up 3.7 %

Shares of AMT opened at $192.01 on Tuesday. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $192.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $211.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $89.72 billion, a PE ratio of 81.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.