D.A. Davidson & CO. Decreases Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

D.A. Davidson & CO. cut its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 10.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,677 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 2,472 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in American Tower were worth $4,809,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 269.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AMT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho upped their target price on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $235.54.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE:AMT traded up $1.30 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $209.30. The company had a trading volume of 1,669,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,321,427. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The business's 50 day moving average price is $216.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.12. The firm has a market cap of $97.80 billion, a PE ratio of 88.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. American Tower's dividend payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

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.