Janney Capital Management LLC Raises Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Janney Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,379 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,424 shares during the quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $7,589,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2.9% in the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 7,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,443,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in American Tower by 17,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 3,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $706,000 after purchasing an additional 3,612 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in American Tower by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 64,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,613,000 after purchasing an additional 9,751 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in American Tower by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 954,016 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $185,623,000 after buying an additional 108,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the second quarter valued at about $89,752,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Trading Down 2.0 %

AMT stock opened at $186.57 on Wednesday. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The company has a market capitalization of $87.18 billion, a PE ratio of 79.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $192.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.47. 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 (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. American Tower’s revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 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 issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction 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 represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays dropped their price objective on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho decreased their target price on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.67.

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.