Swiss National Bank Raises Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,386,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.30% of American Tower worth $322,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in American Tower by 1.1% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 130,175 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $30,273,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at $618,000. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 20.7% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 177,947 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $41,383,000 after buying an additional 30,499 shares during the period. Northcape Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in American Tower by 2.3% during the third quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,620 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,470,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in American Tower by 5.4% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,935 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,310,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price target on American Tower from $223.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Tower from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $235.85.

American Tower Stock Up 0.9 %

AMT traded up $1.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $196.45. 2,587,387 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,698,820. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $91.80 billion, a PE ratio of 82.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $222.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.10.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) 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 firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during 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. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. American Tower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.