First Financial Bankshares Inc Has $33.28 Million Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

First Financial Bankshares Inc lessened its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 143,090 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,463 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in American Tower were worth $33,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,248,812,000 after purchasing an additional 965,938 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 41.8% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,243,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 8.9% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,705,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $720,206,000 after acquiring an additional 302,676 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of American Tower by 16.3% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,310,893 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $643,571,000 after purchasing an additional 464,429 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 1,630,644 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $315,868,000 after purchasing an additional 6,193 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $230.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.92.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $222.80 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $162.55 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.07 billion, a PE ratio of 41.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $228.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.52). The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 23.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 121.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Tower news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,424,177.89. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other American Tower news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,424,177.89. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $4,953,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,223,890. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,723 shares of company stock valued at $7,795,397 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.