Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Has $669,000 Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. cut its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 31.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,075 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMT. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,516,890,000 after acquiring an additional 3,437,602 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,342,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,074,956,000 after purchasing an additional 129,192 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,179,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,050,390,000 after purchasing an additional 537,136 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,570,547,000 after buying an additional 3,421,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter worth $1,164,851,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on AMT. Raymond James lifted their target price on American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, May 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $255.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on American Tower in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $240.25.

American Tower Stock Up 1.6%

American Tower stock opened at $217.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $101.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.85, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.81. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $172.51 and a 52-week high of $243.56. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $214.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $203.08.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.54 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.79 EPS. Equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 174.81%.

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.