Cetera Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Cetera Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 61.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,112 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 32,010 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $3,901,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC lifted its holdings in American Tower by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 35,980 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,978,000 after buying an additional 1,714 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.0% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,894,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $949,300,000 after acquiring an additional 48,874 shares in the last quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 9.6% in the second quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 67,016 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,997,000 after purchasing an additional 5,890 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in American Tower by 3.0% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,856 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,821,000 after purchasing an additional 721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in American Tower by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,470,679 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,254,918,000 after purchasing an additional 123,502 shares during the period. 89.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AMT shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on American Tower from $233.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 17th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $233.00 to $228.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on American Tower from $212.00 to $169.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 16th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Friday, October 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $208.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $228.60.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $197.74 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $172.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $182.81. The company has a market capitalization of $92.18 billion, a PE ratio of 129.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.63. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $154.58 and a 1 year high of $235.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 11th were issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 10th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 423.53%.

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 nearly 225,000 communications sites and a highly interconnected footprint of U.S. data center facilities.