American Tower Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AMT)

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 73,835 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 2,713% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,625 call options.

American Tower Stock Down 5.6 %

AMT opened at $181.96 on Thursday. American Tower has a fifty-two week low of $154.58 and a fifty-two week high of $219.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $194.56 and its 200 day moving average is $193.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.22, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.67.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($1.16). The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.74 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 13.31%. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.34 EPS. Research analysts expect that American Tower will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 213.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares in the company, valued at $12,953,352.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other American Tower news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,532,080.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Tower

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pinnacle Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. VitalStone Financial LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. Gold Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Thompson Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price target on the stock. Finally, HSBC began coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Thursday, December 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.91.

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.