American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Short Interest Down 6.8% in December

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,550,000 shares, a decline of 6.8% from the November 30th total of 4,880,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,430,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

American Tower Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:AMT opened at $183.41 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $200.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.51. American Tower has a one year low of $170.46 and a one year high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 273.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho boosted their target price on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.08.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 269.0% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in American Tower in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth $34,000. 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.