Makena Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Makena Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 40,114 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $7,797,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of American Tower by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,248,812,000 after buying an additional 965,938 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its holdings in American Tower by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 16,440,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,549,366,000 after purchasing an additional 583,892 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,416,004,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839,570 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 36.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,794,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,737,760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,336,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of American Tower by 41.8% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,333,000 after buying an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other American Tower news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total value of $2,333,866.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 51,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,070,789.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Tower news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $4,953,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,223,890. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total value of $2,333,866.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 51,746 shares in the company, valued at $12,070,789.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 33,723 shares of company stock valued at $7,795,397. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on AMT shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on American Tower from $246.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.00.

American Tower Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $231.77 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $226.52 and its 200 day moving average is $203.25. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $154.58 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The stock has a market cap of $108.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.44, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.52). American Tower had a return on equity of 23.06% and a net margin of 21.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 146.61%.

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.