Eastern Bank Buys 96,427 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Eastern Bank lifted its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1,607.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,427 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 96,427 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in American Tower were worth $23,820,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in American Tower by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,248,812,000 after acquiring an additional 965,938 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $720,206,000 after purchasing an additional 302,676 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in American Tower by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,310,893 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $643,571,000 after purchasing an additional 464,429 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 1,630,644 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $315,868,000 after acquiring an additional 6,193 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In related news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total transaction of $2,333,866.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,070,789.42. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other American Tower news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total transaction of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,424,177.89. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total transaction of $2,333,866.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,070,789.42. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,723 shares of company stock worth $7,795,397 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMT remained flat at $221.47 during midday trading on Tuesday. 908,143 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,268,669. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $228.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.83. The stock has a market cap of $103.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.11, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.83. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $157.25 and a one year high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.52). The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 23.06% and a net margin of 21.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.46 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 146.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho upped their price objective on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $230.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on American Tower from $246.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.92.

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.