Aviva PLC Grows Holdings in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Aviva PLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT – Get Rating) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 663,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 71,263 shares during the period. American Tower comprises 0.7% of Aviva PLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Aviva PLC’s holdings in American Tower were worth $140,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 183,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,415,000 after acquiring an additional 20,542 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 13,872 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,939,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Blossom Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Blossom Wealth Management now owns 1,813 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,574,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 115,982 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,572,000 after purchasing an additional 3,559 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of American Tower from $227.00 to $238.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 27th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of American Tower from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $244.00 to $234.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $254.00 to $245.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $244.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $258.12.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $193.47 on Tuesday. American Tower Co. has a twelve month low of $178.17 and a twelve month high of $282.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83. The company has a market capitalization of $90.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.49, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $200.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $209.12.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 11.65% and a net margin of 12.85%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.74 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.55 earnings per share. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 9.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 14th were issued a $1.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 13th. This represents a $6.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 208.00%.

American Tower Company Profile

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American Tower Corp. provides real estate investment services, and owns, operates, and develops multi-tenant real estate properties. It offers leasing of space on communications sites to wireless service providers, radio and television broadcast companies. It operates through the following segments: U.S.