Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 915 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Park Avenue Securities LLC trimmed its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 6,853 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in American Tower by 140.6% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in American Tower by 113.7% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 59,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,549,000 after purchasing an additional 31,616 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 11.0% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,449,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 4.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 38,647 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,757 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $190.26 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $193.24 and its 200 day moving average is $211.46. The stock has a market cap of $88.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.28, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. American Tower’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AMT shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays cut their target price on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Mizuho dropped their price objective on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.67.

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.