Retirement Systems of Alabama Cuts Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 369,261 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 4,602 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.08% of American Tower worth $85,875,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. State Street Corp grew its holdings in American Tower by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,924,091,000 after acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in American Tower by 4.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,211,397,000 after buying an additional 243,061 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AMT. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Mizuho boosted their target price on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective 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. Four research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.85.

American Tower Trading Down 0.3 %

AMT traded down $0.68 during trading on Friday, hitting $197.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,995,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,322,496. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The stock has a market cap of $92.14 billion, a PE ratio of 83.19, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.83. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $210.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.17. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. 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.