American Tower Corporation $AMT Shares Purchased by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) by 9.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,630 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,417 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $13,995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the second quarter worth about $7,490,943,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,096,186,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in American Tower in the 2nd quarter worth $638,829,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the second quarter valued at about $500,016,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the second quarter worth about $291,867,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on American Tower from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of American Tower from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $188.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.44.

American Tower Trading Up 4.2%

Shares of AMT stock opened at $195.16 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. American Tower Corporation has a 12-month low of $160.06 and a 12-month high of $202.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $176.60 and its 200 day moving average is $177.54.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.76 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 30.10% and a return on equity of 32.71%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that American Tower Corporation will post 10.80 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

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

American Tower announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, October 27th that permits the company to repurchase $2 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the real estate investment trust to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other American Tower news, EVP Ruth T. Dowling sold 952 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.81, for a total value of $176,891.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 26,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,855,772.73. This trade represents a 3.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Rajesh Kalathur purchased 2,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 7,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,374,405. This represents a 57.31% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About American Tower

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.