Wealth Alliance Sells 405 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Wealth Alliance trimmed its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 7.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,972 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 405 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in American Tower were worth $966,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMT. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of American Tower by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,416,004,000 after acquiring an additional 2,839,570 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 36.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,794,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,737,760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,336,501 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 4,985,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,076,352,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576,683 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,248,812,000 after purchasing an additional 965,938 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in American Tower during the first quarter worth approximately $164,300,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised American Tower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $230.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho raised their target price on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on American Tower from $246.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.29.

American Tower Stock Down 1.5 %

AMT stock opened at $235.95 on Thursday. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $154.58 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $223.58 and its 200-day moving average is $202.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.18 billion, a PE ratio of 53.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.83.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.52). American Tower had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 23.06%. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 146.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total transaction of $2,333,866.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,746 shares in the company, valued at $12,070,789.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total transaction of $2,333,866.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,746 shares in the company, valued at $12,070,789.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at $7,424,177.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,723 shares of company stock worth $7,795,397. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.