Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 2,502 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Fifth Third Bancorp reduced its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 131,094 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 2,502 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in American Tower were worth $28,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 21.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,437,602 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,342,805 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,074,956,000 after buying an additional 129,192 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in American Tower by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,179,269 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,050,390,000 after buying an additional 537,136 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 3,421,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,164,851,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank boosted 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 report on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their price target on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Two 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $240.25.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock traded down $2.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $214.76. The company had a trading volume of 2,455,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,487,976. 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 stock's 50 day moving average price is $214.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $203.08. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $172.51 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The company has a market capitalization of $100.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.81.

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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.54 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.79 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. American Tower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 174.81%.

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 over 224,000 communications sites and a highly interconnected footprint of U.S. data center facilities.