Baron Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Baron Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,243,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885,421 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 23,224.1% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 997,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $231,941,000 after acquiring an additional 993,061 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 22,242.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 778,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,811,330,000 after purchasing an additional 775,379 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the first quarter worth $123,861,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 16.3% in 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 last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Barclays reduced their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Mizuho upped their price objective on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, TD Cowen upped 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.54.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $198.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $92.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $221.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.24. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

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.