Bessemer Group Inc. Buys 831,247 Shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 272.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,136,903 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 831,247 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of American Tower worth $247,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMT. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in American Tower in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 218.0% during the first quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 159 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AMT. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $250.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities upped their price target on American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group increased their price objective on American Tower from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $240.25.

American Tower Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of AMT traded down $2.58 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $217.64. The company had a trading volume of 2,040,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,496,751. American Tower Corporation has a 52 week low of $172.51 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $101.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $215.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $203.66.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.54 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 30.20% and a net margin of 17.34%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. American Tower's payout ratio is 174.81%.

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.