Quadrature Capital Ltd Takes $5.80 Million Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 24,942 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $5,798,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in American Tower by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 22,055 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,129,000 after buying an additional 5,064 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in American Tower by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 261,653 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $60,850,000 after buying an additional 43,675 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $8,485,000. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 46.6% during the 3rd quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 75,500 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $17,558,000 after buying an additional 24,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

American Tower Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE AMT traded down $2.06 on Friday, reaching $207.10. 2,677,904 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,321,875. 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 fifty day moving average price of $213.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.73. The company has a market cap of $96.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.38, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.83. American Tower Co. has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last issued 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 the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AMT shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Tower from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.