River Road Asset Management LLC Purchases 5,787 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

River Road Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,147 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,787 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $21,662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NBT Bank N A NY increased its stake in American Tower by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,693 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its position in shares of American Tower by 2.9% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc boosted its position in American Tower by 2.3% during the second quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc now owns 2,476 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 5.4% in the first quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 1,119 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,714 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on American Tower from $223.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.85.

American Tower Stock Performance

AMT opened at $211.31 on Tuesday. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The firm has a market cap of $98.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $227.87 and its 200-day moving average is $209.49.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

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.