Team Hewins LLC Reduces Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Team Hewins LLC lowered its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 65.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,329 shares during the period. Team Hewins LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in American Tower by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,930,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,020,034,000 after purchasing an additional 196,942 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in American Tower by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 16,440,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,549,366,000 after buying an additional 583,892 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in American Tower by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,416,004,000 after buying an additional 2,839,570 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in American Tower by 36.2% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,794,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,737,760,000 after acquiring an additional 2,336,501 shares during the period. Finally, Akre Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 6,804,599 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,468,977,000 after acquiring an additional 36,375 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AMT shares. Raymond James raised shares of American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Scotiabank lowered their target price on American Tower from $243.00 to $223.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $230.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.67.

American Tower Stock Up 4.4 %

Shares of NYSE AMT traded up $8.63 on Thursday, reaching $205.40. 1,316,307 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,364,751. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.11. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $154.58 and a 12 month high of $219.10. The company has a market cap of $95.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.81.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by ($0.47). American Tower had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The company had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.54 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 146.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total value of $128,450.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,345,422. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Sanjay Goel sold 3,504 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.36, for a total value of $702,061.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,413 shares in the company, valued at $5,692,828.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total transaction of $128,450.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,345,422. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.