Commerce Bank Increases Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Commerce Bank boosted its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 1.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,168 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in American Tower were worth $4,225,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth about $115,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 107,101 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,661,000 after buying an additional 18,753 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc. grew its holdings in American Tower by 16.1% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Horan Capital Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $11,998,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank dropped their target price on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho upped their price target on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.54.

American Tower Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE AMT opened at $204.32 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $218.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $95.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower Co. has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56.

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

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.42%.

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.