Balentine LLC Makes New $586,000 Investment in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Balentine LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,518 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $586,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in 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 during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 23,224.1% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 997,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $231,941,000 after purchasing an additional 993,061 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in American Tower by 1.6% in the first 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 buying an additional 965,938 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new position in American Tower in the 1st quarter worth approximately $164,300,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $1,811,330,000 after buying an additional 775,379 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AMT. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on American Tower from $223.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.85.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $213.86 on Wednesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $99.89 billion, a PE ratio of 90.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The company has a fifty day moving average of $227.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $209.79.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly 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). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio 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.