Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Stake in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) by 0.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,355,352 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,040 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,165,325,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in American Tower by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,809,486 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,667,344,000 after buying an additional 434,118 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its holdings in American Tower by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,516,890,000 after acquiring an additional 3,437,602 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in American Tower by 66.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,421,413 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in American Tower by 3.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 220,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,525,180 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,013,373,000 after purchasing an additional 524,089 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Juan Font sold 720 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $149,997.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 23,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,130.25. The trade was a 2.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AMT shares. HSBC downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $235.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $223.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities raised their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.88.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $208.97 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $218.61 and its 200 day moving average is $210.81. American Tower Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $172.51 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.36, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $97.83 billion, a PE ratio of 75.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.82.

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

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 247.27%.

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.