Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases 16,769 Shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 12.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 150,146 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 16,769 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in American Tower were worth $32,672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 22.6% during the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 71,953 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $15,657,000 after purchasing an additional 13,248 shares in the last quarter. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.5% in the first quarter. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,087 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $454,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 12.4% in the first quarter. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. now owns 2,299 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $500,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 54.5% in the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 52,095 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $11,336,000 after buying an additional 18,383 shares during the period. Finally, Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC lifted its stake in American Tower by 49.4% during the first quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC now owns 6,094 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 2,015 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Trading Down 0.9%

AMT traded down $2.00 during trading on Monday, reaching $219.75. 1,894,852 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,505,263. The company's fifty day moving average price is $216.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $205.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. American Tower Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $172.51 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.87 billion, a PE ratio of 56.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.82.

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. American Tower had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 30.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.79 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. American Tower's dividend payout ratio is presently 174.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on AMT shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $250.00 target price for the company. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $240.25.

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.