Raymond James Upgrades American Tower (NYSE:AMT) to “Strong-Buy”

Raymond James upgraded shares of American Tower (NYSE:AMT) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $248.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price target of $226.00.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on AMT. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a neutral rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target 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. dropped their price target on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $221.91.

American Tower Stock Performance

American Tower stock opened at $176.80 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $189.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $194.40. American Tower has a twelve month low of $154.58 and a twelve month high of $219.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. The company has a market cap of $82.45 billion, a PE ratio of 40.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.71.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by ($0.47). American Tower had a return on equity of 18.45% and a net margin of 18.42%. The business had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.54 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Tower will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 146.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total value of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total value of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was 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 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. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Tower

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,930,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,020,034,000 after purchasing an additional 196,942 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 16,440,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,549,366,000 after purchasing an additional 583,892 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 21.9% in the 4th 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 period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 36.2% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,794,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,737,760,000 after acquiring an additional 2,336,501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,269,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,195,545,000 after acquiring an additional 258,030 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

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.