Wealthfront Advisers LLC Raises Stake in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 49.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 79,979 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 26,475 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in American Tower were worth $17,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,516,890,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437,602 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in American Tower by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,342,805 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,074,956,000 after acquiring an additional 129,192 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,179,269 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,050,390,000 after purchasing an additional 537,136 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,570,547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,421,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,164,851,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AMT shares. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective 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. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America initiated coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, May 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $255.00 price target on the stock. JMP Securities increased their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $240.88.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMT traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $223.27. 1,522,420 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,501,895. 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 stock has a market cap of $104.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.40, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $216.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $206.81. American Tower Corporation has a twelve month low of $172.51 and a twelve month high of $243.56.

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 the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $2.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.79 EPS. American Tower's revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. American Tower's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.