American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Appleton Partners Inc. MA

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lowered its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 24,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 127 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in American Tower were worth $4,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 0.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,911,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in American Tower by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,102 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the period. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter valued at approximately $364,000. LVW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $361,000. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 0.9% during the third quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 42,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,992,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on AMT. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.23.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $188.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $188.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.77. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. American Tower’s payout ratio 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.