State of Michigan Retirement System Sells 400 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 126,784 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in American Tower were worth $23,253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMT. State Street Corp grew its position in American Tower by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,924,091,000 after acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in American Tower by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,599,074,000 after buying an additional 204,426 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in American Tower by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,211,397,000 after acquiring an additional 243,061 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,422,273 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $981,455,000 after acquiring an additional 38,436 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AMT. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.21.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $207.21 on Wednesday. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The firm has a market cap of $96.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company’s 50 day moving average is $188.05 and its 200-day moving average is $206.43.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 134.72%.

Insider Activity

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.