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

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $230.67.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report 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 for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CX Institutional grew its stake in American Tower by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $450,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 1.6% in the third quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,714 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its holdings in American Tower by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in American Tower by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fullcircle Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fullcircle Wealth LLC now owns 5,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,123,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $190.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $89.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.39, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower has a 12 month low of $170.46 and a 12 month high of $243.56. The company’s 50 day moving average is $192.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Tower will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 273.42%.

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.