Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Has $815,000 Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 76.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,444 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 14,722 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in American Tower were worth $815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in American Tower by 3.1% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.9% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,316,312 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $975,065,000 after acquiring an additional 107,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $981,455,000 after acquiring an additional 38,436 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Remove Ads

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

American Tower Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of American Tower stock traded up $4.36 during trading on Thursday, hitting $214.38. 2,458,406 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,267,824. The stock has a market cap of $100.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.46, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $198.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $205.01. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month 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.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a positive change from American Tower's previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 141.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $229.43.

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.