Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Cuts Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lessened its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,647 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $12,081,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in American Tower by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,930,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,020,034,000 after acquiring an additional 196,942 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in American Tower by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,984,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,135,227,000 after purchasing an additional 691,934 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in American Tower by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,269,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,195,545,000 after purchasing an additional 258,030 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,628,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,090,046,000 after purchasing an additional 138,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in American Tower by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,711,667 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $939,284,000 after purchasing an additional 56,598 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Up 0.0 %

AMT traded up $0.05 on Wednesday, reaching $181.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,971,396 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,463,047. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $188.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. The company has a market capitalization of $84.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $154.58 and a fifty-two week high of $219.10.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.54 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 9.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 146.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total value of $128,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,345,422. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,264 shares of company stock valued at $3,458,757. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AMT shares. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $243.00 to $223.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.91.

About American Tower

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.