Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. reduced its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 73,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,605 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $13,435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 431.0% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 222 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 49.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $206.67 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $96.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.20, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $191.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.05.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 141.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.29.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About American Tower

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.