Hilltop Holdings Inc. Grows Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 279.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,742 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 4,229 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in American Tower were worth $1,335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $893,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group grew its position in American Tower by 12.6% in the second quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 6,195 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,204,000 after acquiring an additional 692 shares during the period. CX Institutional increased its stake in American Tower by 3.5% during the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. raised its position in American Tower by 11.4% in the second quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. now owns 15,830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,077,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622 shares during the period. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the 2nd quarter valued at $9,796,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Tower Price Performance

American Tower stock opened at $207.79 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $212.79. The stock has a market cap of $97.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.83. American Tower Co. has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.54.

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.