Raymond James Financial Inc. Grows Stock Position in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in American Tower Corporation by 4.1%, owning over 1.1 million shares valued at approximately $238.7 million as of the end of the last quarter.
• Analysts have given American Tower a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy", with price targets ranging from $244.47 to $255.00, indicating potential growth.
• American Tower reported a quarterly EPS of $2.60, slightly above expectations, despite a 9.4% decline in revenue year-over-year.

Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,097,030 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 43,398 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.23% of American Tower worth $238,713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,809,486 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $13,667,344,000 after purchasing an additional 434,118 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 66.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,570,547,000 after purchasing an additional 3,421,413 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,383,368 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,606,621,000 after purchasing an additional 285,195 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,534,862 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,421,965,000 after purchasing an additional 88,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,136,981 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,335,407,000 after purchasing an additional 220,565 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Juan Font sold 720 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $149,997.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 23,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,130.25. This represents a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AMT shares. Hsbc Global Res lowered American Tower from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on American Tower from $223.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of American Tower in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on American Tower from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $250.00 price objective on American Tower and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $244.47.

American Tower Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $206.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $96.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.82. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $217.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.86. 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 0.95.

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

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.

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