Rathbones Group PLC Cuts Stake in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Key Points

• Rathbones Group PLC reduced its holdings in American Tower Corporation by 3.1%, owning approximately 0.09% of the company, valued at $89.76 million.
• American Tower reported a quarterly EPS of $2.60, surpassing analyst expectations, though its revenue decreased by 9.4% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.70 per share, representing a yield of 3.3%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 247.27%.

Rathbones Group PLC reduced its position in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 412,516 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 13,314 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC owned 0.09% of American Tower worth $89,763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in American Tower by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,809,486 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $13,667,344,000 after acquiring an additional 434,118 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its stake in American Tower by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,516,890,000 after acquiring an additional 3,437,602 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in American Tower by 66.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,570,547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,421,413 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in American Tower by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,383,368 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,606,621,000 after acquiring an additional 285,195 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in American Tower by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,136,981 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,335,407,000 after acquiring an additional 220,565 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AMT shares. Hsbc Global Res cut American Tower from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays upped their price target on American Tower from $223.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on American Tower from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on American Tower from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on American Tower from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $243.88.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock traded down $0.33 during trading on Thursday, hitting $203.82. The company had a trading volume of 2,636,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,606,967. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.36. The stock's 50-day moving average is $217.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.82. American Tower Corporation has a 52 week low of $172.51 and a 52 week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.58 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 12.60% and a return on equity of 24.85%. American Tower's revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CEO Juan Font sold 720 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $149,997.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 23,425 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,880,130.25. This represents a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.