Bank of Nova Scotia Grows Stake in American Tower Corporation $AMT

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) by 8.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 58,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 4,577 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in American Tower were worth $12,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,371,875,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in American Tower by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 12,666,082 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,799,458,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474,328 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in American Tower by 39.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,144,040 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,772,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,309,627 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the first quarter worth $162,127,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of American Tower by 35.5% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,838,421 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $645,694,000 after buying an additional 743,617 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE AMT opened at $180.19 on Thursday. American Tower Corporation has a 12 month low of $172.51 and a 12 month high of $234.33. The company has a market capitalization of $84.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $183.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $200.86.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.14. American Tower had a return on equity of 28.79% and a net margin of 28.11%.The company had revenue of $2.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. American Tower has set its FY 2025 guidance at 10.600-10.720 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 29th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 29th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 108.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In related news, Director Eugene F. Reilly bought 5,554 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $178.99 per share, for a total transaction of $994,110.46. Following the purchase, the director owned 5,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,018,274.11. This trade represents a 4,114.07% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $231.00 target price (down from $250.00) on shares of American Tower in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on American Tower from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Argus set a $210.00 price objective on American Tower in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of American Tower in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.00.

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.