Arizona State Retirement System Has $26.31 Million Stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 135,375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,601 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in American Tower were worth $26,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,051,898,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of American Tower by 21.9% during the fourth 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 during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of American Tower by 36.2% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 2,336,501 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC increased 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 valued at $1,076,352,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576,683 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of American Tower by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,248,812,000 after purchasing an additional 965,938 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays reduced their price objective on American Tower from $234.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total transaction of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other American Tower news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total transaction of $2,333,866.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,070,789.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total transaction of $508,020.33. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at $7,424,177.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,723 shares of company stock worth $7,795,397 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $233.64 on Friday. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $154.58 and a 1-year high of $236.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $215.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $198.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. The firm has a market cap of $109.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.83.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its 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 firm’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 business earned $2.46 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.05 earnings per share for the current year.

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.