California State Teachers Retirement System Trims Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

California State Teachers Retirement System reduced its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 727,161 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 27,205 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in American Tower were worth $133,369,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMT. Lido Advisors LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 116,898 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $21,626,000 after buying an additional 7,313 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of American Tower by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,525,180 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,013,373,000 after acquiring an additional 524,089 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in American Tower by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 864,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $158,519,000 after purchasing an additional 28,435 shares during the period. Second Half Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $480,000. Finally, NZS Capital LLC grew its holdings in American Tower by 44.2% in the fourth quarter. NZS Capital LLC now owns 245,704 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $45,065,000 after purchasing an additional 75,364 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMT. Citigroup upped their target price on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Tower in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Tower has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $233.07.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT stock opened at $210.81 on Tuesday. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The business has a fifty day moving average of $211.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $201.94. The stock has a market cap of $98.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

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.