American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $230.67.

AMT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Tower

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 725.8% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 45,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,860,000 after purchasing an additional 40,063 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC grew its position in American Tower by 15.3% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 16,689 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,244,000 after buying an additional 2,220 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 7.5% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,102 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,324,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its position in American Tower by 0.5% in the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 92,856 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,049,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the period. Finally, Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,293,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $190.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $89.02 billion, a PE ratio of 80.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day moving average of $192.86 and a 200 day moving average of $211.29. American Tower has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results 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). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

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.