American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $230.42.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AMT. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James upgraded shares of American Tower from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $234.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In related news, EVP Sanjay Goel sold 3,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.36, for a total transaction of $702,061.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,692,828.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Tower

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in American Tower during the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,222,000. RWC Asset Management LLP grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 237,096 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $46,087,000 after buying an additional 1,014 shares during the period. Laidlaw Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $506,000. TIAA Trust National Association grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 445.9% in the 2nd quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 83,507 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,232,000 after buying an additional 68,210 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,123,256 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $218,338,000 after buying an additional 30,753 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Trading Up 3.4 %

NYSE AMT opened at $227.93 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $106.44 billion, a PE ratio of 51.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $200.04 and a 200 day moving average of $194.11. American Tower has a 1 year low of $154.58 and a 1 year high of $229.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.52). The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 23.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 146.61%.

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.