MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 3,498 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 142,712 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,498 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $33,189,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AMT. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of American Tower by 41.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885,421 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in American Tower by 4.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,211,397,000 after purchasing an additional 243,061 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 8.9% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,705,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $720,206,000 after buying an additional 302,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of American Tower by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,537,892 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $822,772,000 after acquiring an additional 226,999 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMT. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.54.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $208.00 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $217.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $212.16. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.80, a PEG ratio of 1.38 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 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 firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. On average, analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.