Ascent Group LLC Buys 460 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $2,462,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in 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 last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,243,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares during the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 2,723.4% in the 3rd quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $279,890,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160,890 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 23,224.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 997,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $231,941,000 after purchasing an additional 993,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 22,242.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 778,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,811,330,000 after purchasing an additional 775,379 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. 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. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on 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. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.54.

American Tower Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of AMT opened at $207.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.88 billion, a PE ratio of 87.48, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.83. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $215.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS 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 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 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.