American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Stake Cut by Epiq Partners LLC

Epiq Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 28.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,431 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 4,932 shares during the period. American Tower comprises about 1.2% of Epiq Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Epiq Partners LLC's holdings in American Tower were worth $2,280,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMT. Slow Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in American Tower by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,654,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,663 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $855,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of American Tower by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 383,917 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $70,414,000 after buying an additional 60,801 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 495,515 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $90,882,000 after buying an additional 28,743 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,306,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased 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. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $226.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock traded down $4.98 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $187.06. 1,997,175 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,416,169. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm's 50 day moving average is $191.94 and its 200 day moving average is $211.14. The stock has a market cap of $87.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The business 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 firm'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 company earned $2.58 earnings per share. Analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS 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. 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 dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.