American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Purchased by Oak Asset Management LLC

Oak Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 10.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,612 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,420 shares during the period. American Tower makes up approximately 1.2% of Oak Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Oak Asset Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $3,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AMT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,164,851,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,516,890,000 after buying an additional 3,437,602 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 66.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,570,547,000 after buying an additional 3,421,413 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in American Tower by 160.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,920,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $902,396,000 after acquiring an additional 3,032,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 23,627.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,701,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $370,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,694,784 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $214.69 on Thursday. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $172.51 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $100.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $215.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $202.58.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.54 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 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 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 174.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AMT shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James upped their price objective on American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $240.25.

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.