American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by WD Rutherford LLC

WD Rutherford LLC lessened its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 65.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,121 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,023 shares during the quarter. WD Rutherford LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $462,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in shares of American Tower by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,516,890,000 after acquiring an additional 3,437,602 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in American Tower by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,342,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,074,956,000 after purchasing an additional 129,192 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,179,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,050,390,000 after purchasing an additional 537,136 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in American Tower by 66.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,570,547,000 after purchasing an additional 3,421,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth $1,164,851,000. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $215.00 on Tuesday. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $172.51 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a market cap of $100.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average of $215.13 and a 200-day moving average of $203.08.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.79 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 174.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on AMT shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James upped their target price on American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on American Tower in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $240.25.

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.