American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Epiq Partners LLC

Epiq Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 28.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,431 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,932 shares during the period. American Tower accounts for about 1.2% of Epiq Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Epiq Partners LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $2,280,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Slow Capital Inc. boosted its position in American Tower by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,654,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,663 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $855,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 383,917 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,414,000 after purchasing an additional 60,801 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 495,515 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $90,882,000 after purchasing an additional 28,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at $2,306,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $192.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.24. The company has a market capitalization of $89.72 billion, a PE ratio of 81.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 273.42%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective 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 started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.31.

About American Tower

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.