American Tower Corporation $AMT Stock: Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Grows Stake

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) by 9.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 83,630 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,417 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $13,995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AIA Group Ltd raised its position in shares of American Tower by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 54,109 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,857,000 after acquiring an additional 1,305 shares in the last quarter. Third View Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter. Third View Private Wealth LLC now owns 31,533 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,162,000 after acquiring an additional 10,064 shares in the last quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 57,633.3% in the third quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in American Tower by 17.6% in the third quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,453 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the third quarter valued at about $202,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of American Tower from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on American Tower from $214.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Tower in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of American Tower in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on American Tower from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $216.44.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rajesh Kalathur bought 2,829 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of $177.00 per share, with a total value of $500,733.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 7,765 shares in the company, valued at $1,374,405. This represents a 57.31% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Ruth T. Dowling sold 952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.81, for a total transaction of $176,891.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 26,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,855,772.73. This represents a 3.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

American Tower Stock Up 4.2%

AMT opened at $195.16 on Thursday. American Tower Corporation has a twelve month low of $160.06 and a twelve month high of $202.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $176.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.54. The company has a market cap of $90.93 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64. American Tower had a return on equity of 32.71% and a net margin of 30.10%. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Corporation will post 10.80 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were paid a $1.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $7.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.99%.

American Tower declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, October 27th that allows the company to repurchase $2 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the real estate investment trust to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

American Tower Company Profile

American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and develops wireless communications infrastructure. Its portfolio primarily includes communications towers, rooftop sites, distributed antenna systems and other infrastructure used by wireless carriers, broadcasters, governments and businesses to support voice, data and video communications.

The company leases space on its sites to multiple customers, allowing them to install antennas and related equipment without building and maintaining individual tower locations.