Traynor Capital Management Inc. Has $474,000 Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Traynor Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,584 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 302 shares during the quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 269.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in American Tower in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management grew its position in American Tower by 431.0% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

American Tower Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of AMT stock opened at $185.24 on Thursday. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.84.

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 (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 firm posted $2.58 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays reduced their target price on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.67.

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.