Swiss National Bank Has $314.69 Million Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Swiss National Bank lowered its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,457,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 41,400 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in American Tower were worth $314,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,930,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,020,034,000 after acquiring an additional 196,942 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in American Tower by 5.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,984,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,135,227,000 after acquiring an additional 691,934 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in American Tower by 3.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,269,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,195,545,000 after acquiring an additional 258,030 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 2.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,628,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,090,046,000 after acquiring an additional 138,303 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in American Tower by 1.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,711,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $939,284,000 after acquiring an additional 56,598 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total value of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at $12,953,352.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total value of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at $12,953,352.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total value of $962,584.84. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,532,080.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock traded up $1.58 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $178.42. 1,309,657 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,436,915. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $189.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.21 billion, a PE ratio of 40.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.71. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $154.58 and a one year high of $219.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by ($0.47). American Tower had a return on equity of 18.45% and a net margin of 18.42%. The firm had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.54 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 146.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMT has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays raised their target price on American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Three equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.91.

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.