Sterling Capital Management LLC Trims Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Sterling Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,968 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 1,923 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC's holdings in American Tower were worth $10,632,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Partners Group Holding AG lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 378,592 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $69,438,000 after buying an additional 28,988 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in American Tower by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $260,743,000 after buying an additional 314,769 shares during the last quarter. TigerOak Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,102,000. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in American Tower by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,995 shares during the period. Finally, CCLA Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 432,891 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $79,344,000 after buying an additional 22,523 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Tower Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE AMT traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $217.86. 3,641,901 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,463,962. The stock has a market cap of $101.84 billion, a PE ratio of 91.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $205.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $202.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

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

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. This is an increase from American Tower's previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower's dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on AMT shares. Citigroup boosted their target price 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 American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $232.07.

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.