American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG cut its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 41.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,216 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 21,379 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's holdings in American Tower were worth $5,542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. boosted its position in American Tower by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 17,062 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,129,000 after buying an additional 2,402 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 65,047 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $11,930,000 after purchasing an additional 15,064 shares during the period. Bcwm LLC acquired a new position in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth $3,350,000. United Bank increased its holdings in American Tower by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. United Bank now owns 5,223 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $958,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in American Tower by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,631,644 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $299,260,000 after purchasing an additional 65,641 shares in 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 a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Tower from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Citizens Jmp raised American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $232.07.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT stock traded down $7.76 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $220.43. The stock had a trading volume of 9,876,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,435,271. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.04 billion, a PE ratio of 93.01, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. The stock's 50 day moving average is $202.22 and its 200 day moving average is $203.95. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. American Tower's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from American Tower's previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. American Tower's dividend payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.