Kentucky Retirement Systems Lowers Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,190 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 212 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in American Tower were worth $6,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in American Tower during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Gold Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new stake in American Tower in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMT. Mizuho boosted their target price on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $233.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $4,953,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,223,890. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $4,953,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,223,890. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total value of $2,333,866.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 51,746 shares in the company, valued at $12,070,789.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,723 shares of company stock worth $7,795,397 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

American Tower Price Performance

American Tower stock opened at $235.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.38, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.83. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $154.58 and a one year high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $223.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $202.03.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.52). American Tower had a return on equity of 23.06% and a net margin of 21.95%. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.13 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 146.61%.

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.