Tpg Gp A LLC Buys New Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Tpg Gp A LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 164,308 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $31,938,000. American Tower comprises about 0.7% of Tpg Gp A LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in American Tower by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,248,812,000 after purchasing an additional 965,938 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its holdings in 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 last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of American Tower by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,416,004,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839,570 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 36.2% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,794,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,737,760,000 after buying an additional 2,336,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgewood Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 4,985,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,076,352,000 after buying an additional 1,576,683 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho upped their price objective on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.00.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $236.61 on Wednesday. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $154.58 and a 12-month 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 firm has a market capitalization of $110.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $225.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $202.82.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.52). The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 23.06% and a net margin of 21.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 146.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total transaction of $508,020.33. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,424,177.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,223,890. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total transaction of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,424,177.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,723 shares of company stock valued at $7,795,397 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.