American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Purchased by Townsquare Capital LLC

Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 55,645 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,924 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $12,941,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMT. FMR LLC raised its holdings in American Tower by 25.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position 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 worth $1,243,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,211,397,000 after buying an additional 243,061 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,705,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $720,206,000 after buying an additional 302,676 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 6.9% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,537,892 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $822,772,000 after buying an additional 226,999 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on AMT shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.54.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT stock opened at $209.31 on Thursday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $216.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.14. The firm has a market cap of $97.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.32, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56.

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

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 273.42%.

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.