American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT – Get Rating) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $260.31.

AMT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Credit Suisse Group lowered their target price on American Tower from $251.00 to $244.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 24th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $278.00 to $270.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 23rd.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT stock opened at $202.32 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $212.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $216.26. The stock has a market cap of $94.21 billion, a PE ratio of 52.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. American Tower has a 1 year low of $178.17 and a 1 year high of $282.47.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported ($1.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by ($3.63). The firm had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.68 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 15.80% and a net margin of 16.49%. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.18 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that American Tower will post 9.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a $1.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 13th. This represents a $6.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 162.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, Director Samme L. Thompson sold 1,739 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.59, for a total value of $380,128.01. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,830,620.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other American Tower news, Director Samme L. Thompson sold 1,739 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.59, for a total value of $380,128.01. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,830,620.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 2,035 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.85, for a total transaction of $449,429.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,645 shares in the company, valued at $10,743,248.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,587 shares of company stock valued at $1,947,849 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMT. McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in American Tower by 4.4% in the second quarter. McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. now owns 902 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Hotaling Investment Management LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 0.3% in the second quarter. Hotaling Investment Management LLC now owns 14,220 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,634,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Personal Capital Advisors Corp increased its stake in American Tower by 1.7% in the first quarter. Personal Capital Advisors Corp now owns 2,510 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $631,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Castle Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,057 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 0.4% in the second quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 10,727 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,742,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

American Tower Company Profile

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American Tower Corp. provides real estate investment services, and owns, operates, and develops multi-tenant real estate properties. It offers leasing of space on communications sites to wireless service providers, radio and television broadcast companies. It operates through the following segments: U.S.