American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Receives $217.55 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $215.90.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AMT. Barclays upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, HSBC started coverage on American Tower in a research report on Thursday, December 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective on the stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total value of $2,367,722.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total value of $962,584.84. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in American Tower by 101,474.3% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,474,342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,219,094,000 after purchasing an additional 10,464,030 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter worth $1,051,898,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 44.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 9,842,980 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,908,844,000 after purchasing an additional 3,016,160 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,416,004,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgewood Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 4,985,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,076,352,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576,683 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $197.59 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.13. American Tower has a 12-month low of $154.58 and a 12-month high of $219.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.14, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.68.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($1.16). American Tower had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 13.31%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.34 EPS. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Tower will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 213.84%.

About American Tower

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.