Cox Capital Mgt LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Cox Capital Mgt LLC lessened its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,490 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 280 shares during the quarter. American Tower comprises approximately 1.7% of Cox Capital Mgt LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Cox Capital Mgt LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $2,658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMT. State Street Corp grew its position in American Tower by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in American Tower by 41.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in American Tower by 4.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,211,397,000 after buying an additional 243,061 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AMT. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays cut their price objective on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.67.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $178.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $83.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.52, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50 day moving average is $193.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.68. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced 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 net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 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.