New York State Teachers Retirement System Reduces Stock Position in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 7.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 373,774 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 31,661 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.08% of American Tower worth $81,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AMT. Partners Group Holding AG lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 378,592 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $69,438,000 after buying an additional 28,988 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in American Tower by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 388,487 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $71,252,000 after purchasing an additional 46,009 shares during the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation lifted its holdings in American Tower by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 42,608 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $7,815,000 after purchasing an additional 6,165 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at about $193,246,000. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 769,720 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $141,174,000 after buying an additional 18,555 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on AMT shares. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, May 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $255.00 price target on the stock. 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. JMP Securities increased their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $240.25.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT traded up $0.00 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $224.47. The stock had a trading volume of 1,011,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,495,048. The company's 50-day moving average is $215.82 and its 200 day moving average is $204.23. American Tower Corporation has a 12-month low of $172.51 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43. The company has a market capitalization of $105.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.82.

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

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. American Tower's payout ratio is 174.81%.

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.