Copley Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $484,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its position 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 worth $2,474,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in 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 worth $1,243,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Adelante Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 2,723.4% in the third quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $279,890,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160,890 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in American Tower by 23,224.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 997,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $231,941,000 after purchasing an additional 993,061 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in American Tower by 22,242.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 778,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,811,330,000 after purchasing an additional 775,379 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMT. Barclays cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.85.

American Tower Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:AMT traded down $1.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $196.54. 221,647 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,314,620. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The stock has a market cap of $91.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $210.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $213.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio 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.