American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Trading Down 2.3%

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)’s stock price was down 2.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $230.04 and last traded at $230.42. Approximately 399,009 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 2,299,603 shares. The stock had previously closed at $235.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.29.

American Tower Stock Up 1.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $109.81 billion, a PE ratio of 53.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average is $224.57 and its 200-day moving average is $202.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.52). American Tower had a return on equity of 23.06% and a net margin of 21.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 10.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 146.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total value of $2,333,866.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,070,789.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other American Tower news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $4,953,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,223,890. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total value of $2,333,866.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,070,789.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,723 shares of company stock worth $7,795,397 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Tower

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Gold Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the second quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

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.