Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Acquires Shares of 9,903 American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,903 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,957,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in American Tower by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,930,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,020,034,000 after buying an additional 196,942 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its position in shares of American Tower by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 16,440,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,549,366,000 after purchasing an additional 583,892 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of American Tower by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,416,004,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839,570 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of American Tower by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,269,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,195,545,000 after purchasing an additional 258,030 shares during the period. Finally, Akre Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of American Tower by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 6,804,599 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,468,977,000 after purchasing an additional 36,375 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

AMT opened at $194.79 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $90.96 billion, a PE ratio of 44.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $154.58 and a fifty-two week high of $219.10.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.43 by ($0.47). The business had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 18.45% and a net margin of 18.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.54 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 146.61%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total value of $128,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,345,422. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total transaction of $128,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,332 shares in the company, valued at $1,345,422. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sanjay Goel sold 3,504 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.36, for a total value of $702,061.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,692,828.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMT. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Mizuho started coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank lowered their target price on American Tower from $243.00 to $223.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Raymond James upgraded American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.67.

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.