Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Lowers Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lowered its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 5.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,176 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 115 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMT. Allstate Corp raised its stake in American Tower by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 1,750 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY lifted its stake in American Tower by 3.3% during the second quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,693 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Glassman Wealth Services boosted its holdings in American Tower by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 1,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 5.4% in the first quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 1,119 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,265 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMT. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $230.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised American Tower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.14.

American Tower Price Performance

American Tower stock opened at $236.23 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $199.32. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $154.58 and a 12 month high of $236.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.34 billion, a PE ratio of 53.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.83.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.52). American Tower had a return on equity of 23.06% and a net margin of 21.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total value of $2,333,866.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,070,789.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $4,953,510.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,223,890. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total transaction of $2,333,866.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,070,789.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,723 shares of company stock worth $7,795,397. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.