LPL Financial LLC Purchases 26,957 Shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

LPL Financial LLC grew its position in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) by 7.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 395,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 26,957 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $86,051,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMT. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,516,890,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437,602 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,179,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,050,390,000 after acquiring an additional 537,136 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,570,547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,421,413 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in American Tower by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,136,981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,335,407,000 after acquiring an additional 220,565 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in American Tower by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,941,586 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,089,746,000 after purchasing an additional 455,225 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $234.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $223.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $250.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on American Tower from $251.00 to $250.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on American Tower from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $243.00.

American Tower Stock Down 2.7%

AMT stock opened at $208.87 on Thursday. American Tower Corporation has a 52 week low of $172.51 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $218.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $209.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.36. The company has a market cap of $97.78 billion, a PE ratio of 75.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.82.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 12.60% and a return on equity of 24.85%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.79 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 174.81%.

About American Tower

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.