abrdn plc Sells 315,699 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

abrdn plc lowered its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 30.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 729,553 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 315,699 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned approximately 0.16% of American Tower worth $157,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 101,474.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,474,342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,219,094,000 after acquiring an additional 10,464,030 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,008,567,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2,329.8% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,329,779 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $218,682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275,052 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,231,486 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,532,063,000 after acquiring an additional 962,800 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 16,195.9% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 849,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,833,560,000 after acquiring an additional 844,128 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total value of $2,367,722.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,532,080.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AMT shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.36.

American Tower Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AMT traded up $0.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $171.30. The stock had a trading volume of 2,867,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,507,582. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $191.91 and its 200 day moving average is $193.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $154.58 and a 52 week high of $219.10. The stock has a market cap of $79.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.67.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($1.16). The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.74 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 13.31% and a return on equity of 12.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 203.77%.

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.