Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 416 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $2,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMT. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in American Tower in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Emerald Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Thompson Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Up 0.9 %

American Tower stock opened at $182.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.02, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $188.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.09. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $154.58 and a fifty-two week high of $219.10.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.43 by ($0.47). The business had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.54 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 9.96 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 146.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total value of $962,584.84. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total value of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,264 shares of company stock worth $3,458,757 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AMT shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.91.

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.