88,997 Shares in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) Bought by American Assets Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• American Assets Investment Management LLC acquired nearly 89,000 shares of American Tower Corporation, valued at approximately $19.37 million, making it the largest holding in their portfolio at 8.1%.
• Major analysts have raised their price targets for American Tower, with Barclays and JPMorgan setting new targets of $246.00 and $255.00 respectively, both maintaining "overweight" ratings.
• American Tower announced a quarterly dividend of $1.70 per share, which translates to an annualized yield of 3.26%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 174.81%.

American Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 88,997 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $19,366,000. American Tower accounts for about 8.1% of American Assets Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,516,890,000 after acquiring an additional 3,437,602 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,179,269 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,050,390,000 after acquiring an additional 537,136 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in American Tower by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,570,547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,421,413 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,136,981 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,335,407,000 after acquiring an additional 220,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in American Tower by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,941,586 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,089,746,000 after acquiring an additional 455,225 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AMT. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of American Tower from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $250.00 to $245.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America began coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, May 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $255.00 price target on the stock. Finally, HSBC cut shares of American Tower from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $235.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $243.88.

American Tower Stock Performance

AMT traded up $3.79 during trading on Friday, reaching $212.18. 3,232,190 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,893,405. American Tower Corporation has a 1 year low of $172.51 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.36, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.82. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $218.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $210.53.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 12.60% and a return on equity of 24.85%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. American Tower's payout ratio is 247.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other news, CEO Juan Font sold 720 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total transaction of $149,997.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 23,425 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,880,130.25. The trade was a 2.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.