American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Upgraded at Citizens Jmp

Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower (NYSE:AMT) to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JMP Securities assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.23.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $183.87 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $85.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 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 has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company’s 50-day moving average is $191.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $210.97.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that American Tower will post 10.15 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.52%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Tower

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Balentine LLC acquired a new position in American Tower in the third quarter worth $586,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in American Tower by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,743,000 after purchasing an additional 314,769 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in American Tower in the third quarter worth $1,156,000. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in American Tower by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 95,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,128,000 after purchasing an additional 6,163 shares during the period. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in American Tower by 29.0% in the fourth 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.