Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Stock Price

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) had its target price boosted by Barclays from $214.00 to $223.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.43.

American Tower Stock Up 1.0 %

American Tower stock opened at $216.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company’s 50-day moving average is $195.99 and its 200-day moving average is $205.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.16 billion, a PE ratio of 91.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Tower

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 28.5% during 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 buying an additional 314,769 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. bought a new position in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,102,000. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 432,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,344,000 after purchasing an additional 22,523 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

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.