Eastern Bank Reduces Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Eastern Bank decreased its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 100,348 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,079 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in American Tower were worth $18,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 41.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,243,333,000 after buying an additional 1,885,421 shares in the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2,723.4% during the 3rd quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $279,890,000 after buying an additional 1,160,890 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 23,224.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 997,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $231,941,000 after buying an additional 993,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 22,242.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 778,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,811,330,000 after buying an additional 775,379 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMT has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.67.

American Tower Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of AMT stock traded up $3.01 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $176.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,554,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,331,858. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.92.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

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.