American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Holdings Trimmed by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,539 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,651 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in American Tower were worth $7,567,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 41.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885,421 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 8.9% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,705,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $720,206,000 after purchasing an additional 302,676 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,310,893 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $643,571,000 after purchasing an additional 464,429 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in American Tower by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,536,255 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $298,617,000 after purchasing an additional 69,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ClearBridge Investments Ltd raised its holdings in American Tower by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 1,442,759 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $280,443,000 after buying an additional 84,180 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Up 0.9 %

American Tower stock opened at $196.45 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $91.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $222.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $210.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 273.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

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.