Ninety One SA PTY Ltd Sells 1,663 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd lowered its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 22,809 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,663 shares during the quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd’s holdings in American Tower were worth $4,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AMT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,930,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,020,034,000 after purchasing an additional 196,942 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,984,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,135,227,000 after purchasing an additional 691,934 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 101,474.3% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,474,342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,219,094,000 after purchasing an additional 10,464,030 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,269,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,195,545,000 after purchasing an additional 258,030 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,628,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,090,046,000 after purchasing an additional 138,303 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total value of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,532,080.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT traded down $1.01 during trading on Thursday, reaching $171.01. 1,416,533 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,408,066. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $154.58 and a 12-month high of $219.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $193.58. The company has a market cap of $79.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.09, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.67.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($1.16). American Tower had a net margin of 13.31% and a return on equity of 12.80%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.74 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 203.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMT shares. Mizuho started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.36.

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.