Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Invests $686,000 in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,098 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $686,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 218.0% during the 1st quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $240.88.

American Tower Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $218.90 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $216.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.69. American Tower Corporation has a 1 year low of $172.51 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The stock has a market cap of $102.48 billion, a PE ratio of 56.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.82.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.34. American Tower had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 30.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 174.81%.

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.