Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Lowers Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lessened its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 55.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 26,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 33,454 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $4,918,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Glenview Trust co raised its position in American Tower by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 7,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its stake in American Tower by 4.2% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $332,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in American Tower by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $235,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in American Tower by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $215.52 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $100.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.94, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $198.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $204.58. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 141.37%.

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.