GAMMA Investing LLC Increases Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 52.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,114 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,759 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $994,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $1,051,898,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of American Tower by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,416,004,000 after buying an additional 2,839,570 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of American Tower by 36.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,794,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,737,760,000 after buying an additional 2,336,501 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 4,985,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,076,352,000 after buying an additional 1,576,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 41.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,299,306 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,144,014,000 after buying an additional 1,541,029 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Trading Down 2.3 %

AMT traded down $5.33 during trading on Monday, hitting $229.31. 2,464,174 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,338,363. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. American Tower Co. has a 1 year low of $154.58 and a 1 year high of $236.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $201.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.12. The firm has a market cap of $107.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.81.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.52). The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 23.06% and a net margin of 21.95%. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 146.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, EVP Sanjay Goel sold 3,504 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.36, for a total transaction of $702,061.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,692,828.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of American Tower from $234.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Tower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.42.

About American Tower

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.