Independence Bank of Kentucky Trims Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Independence Bank of Kentucky decreased its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 20.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,382 shares during the quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in American Tower by 218.0% during the 1st quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in American Tower during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AMT. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on American Tower in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on American Tower from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $240.25.

American Tower Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of AMT stock opened at $212.57 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $99.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $215.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $202.78. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $172.51 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.34. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.79 earnings per share. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 174.81%.

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.