Park Avenue Securities LLC Reduces Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Park Avenue Securities LLC cut its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,335 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 915 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $4,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 269.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.67.

American Tower Stock Up 5.5 %

NYSE AMT opened at $190.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $193.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.46. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The company has a market capitalization of $88.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

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.