Premier Fund Managers Ltd Increases Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 21.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 107,101 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 18,753 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s holdings in American Tower were worth $24,661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 269.0% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower in the second quarter worth $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $201.17 on Wednesday. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56. 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 company has a market cap of $94.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50 day moving average is $220.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.37.

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

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their target price on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.54.

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.