Adelante Capital Management LLC Has $279.89 Million Stock Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Adelante Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 2,723.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,203,517 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,160,890 shares during the quarter. American Tower makes up 12.7% of Adelante Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Adelante Capital Management LLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $279,890,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of American Tower by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in American Tower by 41.8% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,243,333,000 after buying an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in American Tower by 4.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,211,397,000 after buying an additional 243,061 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,111,335 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $956,132,000 after acquiring an additional 224,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,705,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $720,206,000 after acquiring an additional 302,676 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $209.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $215.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.46. The company has a market capitalization of $97.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.19, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.84.

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). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. American Tower’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. Analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AMT. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.54.

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.