Baillie Gifford & Co. Sells 39,450 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Baillie Gifford & Co. cut its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 118,335 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 39,450 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co.'s holdings in American Tower were worth $27,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Patron Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 4.0% in the third quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 3,372 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $784,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth $4,846,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its position in shares of American Tower by 5.7% in the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 5,794 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,347,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the third quarter valued at about $214,000. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2.4% during the third quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 10,449 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,430,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho upped their price target on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.85.

American Tower Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of AMT traded up $1.44 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $195.16. The company had a trading volume of 2,251,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,322,183. 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 company has a market capitalization of $91.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $224.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $210.66. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for 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%. American Tower's revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. 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.