Avanza Fonder AB Invests $6.54 Million in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 35,637 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $6,536,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,599,074,000 after acquiring an additional 204,426 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in American Tower by 41.8% in 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. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $1,211,397,000 after buying an additional 243,061 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AMT. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays decreased their target price on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.67.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $191.03 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 $89.27 billion, a PE ratio of 80.49, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s fifty day moving average is $193.24 and its 200 day moving average is $211.46. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued 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 company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company’s revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.