Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Decreases Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lowered its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 53.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,946 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 9,270 shares during the quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.'s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CX Institutional raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,933 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc raised its stake in American Tower by 2.3% in the second quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc now owns 2,476 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Tower by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,714 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $864,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $332,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AMT. StockNews.com cut American Tower from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Tower from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $230.67.

American Tower Stock Performance

AMT stock traded up $1.75 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $180.55. The company had a trading volume of 1,270,145 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,293,668. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $193.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a market cap of $84.37 billion, a PE ratio of 76.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower's payout ratio is 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.