Congress Asset Management Co. Makes New Investment in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 965 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in 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 valued at $1,243,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 23,224.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 997,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $231,941,000 after purchasing an additional 993,061 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in American Tower by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,248,812,000 after purchasing an additional 965,938 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in American Tower in the 1st quarter worth about $164,300,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 22,242.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 778,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,811,330,000 after buying an additional 775,379 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.85.

American Tower Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $211.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.14, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.81. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $228.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $208.94.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 273.42%.

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.