Blue Trust Inc. Increases Holdings in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) by 4.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,793 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Partners Group Holding AG boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 378,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $69,438,000 after acquiring an additional 28,988 shares during the period. Aviva PLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 388,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $71,252,000 after purchasing an additional 46,009 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 42,608 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,815,000 after purchasing an additional 6,165 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at $193,246,000. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC boosted its stake in American Tower by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 769,720 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $141,174,000 after buying an additional 18,555 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on American Tower from $234.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.25.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $215.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. American Tower Corporation has a one year low of $172.51 and a one year high of $243.56. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $215.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $203.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.81.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.54 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 30.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 174.81%.

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.