American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,916,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 225,957 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.27% of American Tower worth $1,085,144,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 1.6% during the third quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,714 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its position in shares of American Tower by 4.2% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Fullcircle Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 1.2% during the third quarter. Fullcircle Wealth LLC now owns 5,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AMT shares. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.79.

American Tower Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:AMT opened at $189.41 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $186.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $208.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.92, a PEG ratio of 1.27 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

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.