Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Increases Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 114.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,491 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 4,004 shares during the quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American Tower by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,248,812,000 after acquiring an additional 965,938 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in American Tower by 41.8% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,705,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $720,206,000 after buying an additional 302,676 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,310,893 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $643,571,000 after buying an additional 464,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in 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 valued at $315,868,000 after acquiring an additional 6,193 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $197.41 on Thursday. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The stock has a market cap of $92.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $227.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $209.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMT. 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 research report on Monday, September 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target 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. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.85.

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.