American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Acquired by National Pension Service

National Pension Service increased its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 17.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,059,124 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 156,382 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in American Tower were worth $246,310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AMT. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 41.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,243,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 23,224.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 997,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $231,941,000 after purchasing an additional 993,061 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,248,812,000 after purchasing an additional 965,938 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in American Tower during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $164,300,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 22,242.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 778,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,811,330,000 after purchasing an additional 775,379 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AMT shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.85.

American Tower Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $212.53 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $99.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $228.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $209.20.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.42%.

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.