National Bank of Canada FI Decreases Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

National Bank of Canada FI cut its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 286,233 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 19,475 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in American Tower were worth $52,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,924,091,000 after acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in American Tower by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,164,851,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $975,065,000 after buying an additional 107,345 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,164,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $947,295,000 after buying an additional 742,632 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. JMP Securities initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Up 0.8 %

AMT opened at $219.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.59, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $200.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $204.07. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 141.37%.

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.