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

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) has received an average rating of “Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have assigned a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $233.07.

Several analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Tower in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JMP Securities started coverage on American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $210.81 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $211.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $201.94. 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 has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87.

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

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were given a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 141.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,087 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $454,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Glenview Trust co grew its position in American Tower by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 7,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. now owns 1,907 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $416,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Veracity Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.