American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Bought by Knuff & Co LLC

Knuff & Co LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,978 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 416 shares during the quarter. American Tower comprises about 1.6% of Knuff & Co LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Knuff & Co LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $5,111,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,705,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $720,206,000 after buying an additional 302,676 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in 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. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,536,255 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $298,617,000 after purchasing an additional 69,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ClearBridge Investments Ltd increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 1,442,759 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $280,443,000 after buying an additional 84,180 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $198.84 on Tuesday. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $221.71 and a 200-day moving average of $211.24.

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

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on AMT shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.54.

American Tower Company 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.