Swiss National Bank Sells 66,500 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Swiss National Bank decreased its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,319,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 66,500 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in American Tower were worth $242,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 431.0% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 113.9% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 261 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Down 1.5 %

NYSE:AMT opened at $206.67 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $96.61 billion, a PE ratio of 87.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $191.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $206.05.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. American Tower’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. Analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AMT shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.29.

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.