Legal & General Group Plc Acquires 143,424 Shares of American Tower Corporation $AMT

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,494,025 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 143,424 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in American Tower were worth $993,269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AMT. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 120 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC grew its position in American Tower by 136.4% in the second quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 156 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in American Tower by 86.0% in the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 173 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in American Tower during the first quarter valued at about $40,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AMT shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on American Tower from $281.00 to $226.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of American Tower in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $250.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. HSBC lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $235.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $231.00 price objective (down from $250.00) on shares of American Tower in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.44.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $179.09 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $204.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.84 billion, a PE ratio of 28.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower Corporation has a one year low of $172.51 and a one year high of $234.33.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.14. American Tower had a return on equity of 28.79% and a net margin of 28.11%.The business had revenue of $2.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. American Tower has set its FY 2025 guidance at 10.600-10.720 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 108.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Eugene F. Reilly purchased 5,554 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $178.99 per share, for a total transaction of $994,110.46. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 5,689 shares in the company, valued at $1,018,274.11. This trade represents a 4,114.07% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.