Wright Investors Service Inc. Decreases Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Wright Investors Service Inc. decreased its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,094 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 449 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CX Institutional grew its holdings in American Tower by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc now owns 2,476 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.6% in the third quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,714 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $864,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its position in American Tower by 4.2% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in American Tower by 5.3% in the third quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AMT. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.67.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $177.02 on Tuesday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $194.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.79. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The company has a market capitalization of $82.72 billion, a PE ratio of 74.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.42%.

About American Tower

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.