American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 76.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,762 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 9,209 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in American Tower were worth $507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMT. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 113.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,966 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $727,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in American Tower by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 1,516 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. increased its position in American Tower by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,657 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $664,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in American Tower by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 13,050 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,413,000 after buying an additional 1,999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth about $222,000. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their target price on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America assumed coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, May 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $255.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on American Tower in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $240.25.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE AMT traded up $1.30 on Wednesday, hitting $214.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,579,002 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,496,169. 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 company's fifty day moving average price is $215.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $202.58. The company has a market capitalization of $100.50 billion, a PE ratio of 90.59, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.82. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $172.51 and a 12-month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.34. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.79 EPS. American Tower's revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. American Tower's payout ratio is 174.81%.

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.