Rhumbline Advisers Reduces Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Rhumbline Advisers trimmed its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,076,333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 27,356 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in American Tower were worth $234,210,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMT. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 113.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $727,000 after buying an additional 2,104 shares during the period. BTC Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,657 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $664,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 13,050 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,413,000 after buying an additional 1,999 shares during the period. Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter worth $222,000. Finally, Factory Mutual Insurance Co. raised its position in shares of American Tower by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 227,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,762,000 after acquiring an additional 46,200 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on AMT shares. Bank of America started coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, May 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $255.00 price target for the company. JMP Securities upped their target price on American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group upped their target price on American Tower from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $240.25.

American Tower Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of AMT opened at $214.77 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $172.51 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company has a market capitalization of $100.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.62, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $215.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $202.25.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.34. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.79 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 174.81%.

American Tower Company 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.