Bernzott Capital Advisors Reduces Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Bernzott Capital Advisors reduced its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,909 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 3,365 shares during the period. American Tower accounts for 3.3% of Bernzott Capital Advisors' investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Bernzott Capital Advisors' holdings in American Tower were worth $6,769,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in American Tower by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after buying an additional 635,726 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 25.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of American Tower by 41.8% in the second 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 purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,211,397,000 after buying an additional 243,061 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AMT shares. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays cut their price target on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Tower from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $230.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT stock traded up $0.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $190.51. The company had a trading volume of 2,882,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,554,417. 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 fifty day moving average price of $193.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.32. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The company has a market cap of $89.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. American Tower's dividend payout ratio is 273.42%.

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.