Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Sells 213,240 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC reduced its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 95.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,096 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 213,240 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of American Tower by 227.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,364 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $550,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 7.8% in the third quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,743 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 68.9% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 33,925 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,890,000 after acquiring an additional 13,834 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of American Tower by 4.4% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 88,610 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $20,607,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in American Tower by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,310,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on AMT. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank cut their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.29.

American Tower Price Performance

American Tower stock opened at $211.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $98.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $192.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $205.82. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56.

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

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

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.