American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by CENTRAL TRUST Co

CENTRAL TRUST Co trimmed its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT – Get Rating) by 3.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 354 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in American Tower were worth $2,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BCK Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the first quarter worth $2,892,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 138.9% in the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 2,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,645 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in American Tower by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,413 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,621,000 after buying an additional 771 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in American Tower by 33.5% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,015 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $757,000 after buying an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in American Tower by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 152,723 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,367,000 after purchasing an additional 2,071 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of AMT stock opened at $202.32 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $212.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $216.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.21 billion, a PE ratio of 52.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.56. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $178.17 and a 1-year high of $282.47.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported ($1.47) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.16 by ($3.63). American Tower had a net margin of 16.49% and a return on equity of 15.80%. The firm had revenue of $2.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.18 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 9.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a $1.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. This represents a $6.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 162.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 2,035 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.85, for a total value of $449,429.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 48,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,743,248.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Raymond P. Dolan sold 1,619 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.92, for a total transaction of $378,716.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,473 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,087,284.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 2,035 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.85, for a total value of $449,429.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 48,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,743,248.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,587 shares of company stock valued at $1,947,849 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on American Tower from $247.00 to $246.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. UBS Group decreased their target price on American Tower from $278.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 13th. Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $244.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on American Tower from $254.00 to $245.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $260.31.

About American Tower

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American Tower Corp. provides real estate investment services, and owns, operates, and develops multi-tenant real estate properties. It offers leasing of space on communications sites to wireless service providers, radio and television broadcast companies. It operates through the following segments: U.S.