Synovus Financial Corp Sells 3,605 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Synovus Financial Corp lowered its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 8.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,749 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 3,605 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp's holdings in American Tower were worth $8,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AMT. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in American Tower by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,990 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,649,000 after buying an additional 1,032 shares during the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management raised its position in American Tower by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 94,992 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $22,091,000 after buying an additional 2,517 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,784,000. Second Line Capital LLC raised its position in American Tower by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 11,856 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,757,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its position in American Tower by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $332,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Tower from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.85.

American Tower Stock Performance

AMT traded down $0.69 during trading on Friday, hitting $197.16. The stock had a trading volume of 1,995,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,322,496. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $210.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $213.24. The firm has a market cap of $92.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.83. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. 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 (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last released 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 during 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 business's revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. American Tower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.42%.

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.