Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Boosts Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 231,491 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,201 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in American Tower were worth $53,836,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 41.8% in 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in American Tower by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,211,397,000 after acquiring an additional 243,061 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake 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 worth $720,206,000 after purchasing an additional 302,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in American Tower by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,537,892 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $822,772,000 after buying an additional 226,999 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays decreased their target price on American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.54.

American Tower Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $209.30 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company has a market capitalization of $97.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.31, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $216.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.12. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

American Tower Company 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.