Park Avenue Securities LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,284 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $5,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,516,890,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437,602 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,342,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,074,956,000 after purchasing an additional 129,192 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $2,050,390,000 after purchasing an additional 537,136 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $1,570,547,000 after purchasing an additional 3,421,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,164,851,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AMT. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, May 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $255.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $240.25.

American Tower Stock Down 1.7%

AMT stock opened at $212.57 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $215.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $202.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $172.51 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.69, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.81.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.54 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 174.81%.

American Tower Company 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.