American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Short Interest Up 15.6% in June

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,560,000 shares, a growth of 15.6% from the May 31st total of 4,810,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,500,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMT. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of American Tower from $243.00 to $223.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $234.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.91.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $194.38 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.81. American Tower has a 1-year low of $154.58 and a 1-year high of $219.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $188.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.95.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.43 by ($0.47). The firm had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 18.45% and a net margin of 18.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that American Tower will post 10.03 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 146.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower news, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total transaction of $128,450.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,332 shares in the company, valued at $1,345,422. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other American Tower news, EVP Sanjay Goel sold 3,504 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.36, for a total transaction of $702,061.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,413 shares in the company, valued at $5,692,828.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total transaction of $128,450.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,345,422. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Tower

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Gold Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Thompson Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. bought a new stake in American Tower during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.