Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $32.67 Million Holdings in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 12.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 150,146 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying 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 also recently modified their holdings of AMT. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 218.0% during the 1st quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 159 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AMT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $240.25.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of American Tower stock traded down $1.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $221.75. 1,369,114 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,507,714. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $216.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $205.07. American Tower Corporation has a twelve month low of $172.51 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The company has a market cap of $103.81 billion, a PE ratio of 57.00, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.82.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. American Tower had a return on equity of 30.20% and a net margin of 17.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.79 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company 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 $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. American Tower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.