Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Grows Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 45.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,931 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $13,443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,401 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,029,000 after purchasing an additional 4,430 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA increased its stake in American Tower by 55.8% in the first quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 4,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,646 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the first quarter worth about $2,169,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 1st quarter worth about $99,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in American Tower by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 40,074 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,918,000 after buying an additional 3,132 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AMT shares. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.54.

American Tower Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of AMT traded up $1.30 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $209.30. 1,669,442 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,321,427. The firm has a market cap of $97.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $216.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. 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.