Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 4,602 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 369,261 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,602 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in American Tower were worth $85,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its position in American Tower by 19.3% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 7,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,814,000 after acquiring an additional 1,260 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in American Tower by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $981,455,000 after purchasing an additional 38,436 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,990 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares during the period. Destination Wealth Management raised its position in shares of American Tower by 2.7% during the third quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 94,992 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,091,000 after buying an additional 2,517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter valued at about $1,784,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on AMT. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

American Tower Price Performance

American Tower stock opened at $197.49 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The firm has a market cap of $92.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The business’s fifty day moving average is $210.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $213.17.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.