American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) has received an average rating of “Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $225.21.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AMT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities started coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Barclays decreased their price target on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $212.49 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $99.29 billion, a PE ratio of 89.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $189.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $206.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Tower will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 134.72%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,743,000 after buying an additional 314,769 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth about $1,102,000. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in American Tower by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management lifted its holdings in American Tower by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 432,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 22,523 shares in the last quarter. 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.