Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 2,293 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Fifth Third Bancorp trimmed its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 133,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,293 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in American Tower were worth $24,503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Balentine LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $586,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $260,743,000 after acquiring an additional 314,769 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth $1,156,000. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of American Tower by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 95,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,128,000 after acquiring an additional 6,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in American Tower by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,995 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of AMT stock opened at $185.17 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.53 billion, a PE ratio of 78.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.04.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) 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 business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.58 EPS. Equities analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.42.

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.