West Family Investments Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

West Family Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 191 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in American Tower by 41.8% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,333,000 after buying an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 993,061 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 22,242.7% during the third 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 period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the first quarter worth about $123,861,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 16.3% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AMT shares. StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Four 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.54.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $201.17 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a market cap of $94.00 billion, a PE ratio of 84.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $220.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.37. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56.

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

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.