Analysts Set American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Price Target at $217.36

Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $217.36.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AMT shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased 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 note on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $171.30 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $191.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $193.99. American Tower has a twelve month low of $154.58 and a twelve month high of $219.10. The company has a market capitalization of $79.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 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). American Tower had a net margin of 13.31% and a return on equity of 12.80%. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.34 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that American Tower will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 203.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other American Tower news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 18,545 shares in the company, valued at $3,532,080.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Tower

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMT. BCK Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,892,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 138.9% during the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 2,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,645 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,413 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,621,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 33.5% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,015 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $757,000 after buying an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.4% in the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 152,723 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,367,000 after buying an additional 2,071 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.