Benjamin Edwards Inc. Takes $2.33 Million Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 10,013 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $2,329,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 25.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in American Tower by 41.8% during the 2nd 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 buying an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in American Tower by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,211,397,000 after acquiring an additional 243,061 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,111,335 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $956,132,000 after purchasing an additional 224,261 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 302,676 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

American Tower Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:AMT traded up $1.66 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $209.16. 2,291,063 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,320,360. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $214.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.75. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The firm has a market cap of $97.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.92, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm's revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. American Tower's dividend payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays decreased their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 18th. Scotiabank reduced 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Tower from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.