Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $3.14 Million Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $3,138,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Profund Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2.9% during the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 7,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,443,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 17,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 3,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $706,000 after acquiring an additional 3,612 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in American Tower by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 64,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,613,000 after acquiring an additional 9,751 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in American Tower by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 954,016 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $185,623,000 after acquiring an additional 108,355 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the second quarter valued at $89,752,000. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays cut their price objective on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.67.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

American Tower Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $189.94 on Wednesday. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a market cap of $88.76 billion, a PE ratio of 80.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.51.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.