Financial Counselors Inc. Lowers Stake in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Financial Counselors Inc. cut its stake in shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 11.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 113,376 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 14,217 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.'s holdings in American Tower were worth $24,671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,164,851,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 21.8% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 3,437,602 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 66.5% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 3,421,413 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 160.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,920,100 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $902,396,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 23,627.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,701,957 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $370,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694,784 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $234.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $250.00 price objective on the stock. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, May 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $255.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $240.88.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT stock traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $221.02. The stock had a trading volume of 661,717 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,500,228. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $216.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $205.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $103.47 billion, a PE ratio of 56.82, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.82. American Tower Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $172.51 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.34. American Tower had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 30.20%. The business had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.79 EPS. The business's revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. American Tower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.