Board of the Pension Protection Fund Buys New Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $862,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 269.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their price target on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.67.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $178.99 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $211.68.

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

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 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.