American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $226.29.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Tower

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter worth $1,164,851,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,516,890,000 after acquiring an additional 3,437,602 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 66.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,570,547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,421,413 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 160.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,920,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $902,396,000 after acquiring an additional 3,032,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,474,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE AMT opened at $211.02 on Monday. American Tower has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $192.33 and a 200-day moving average of $205.68. The firm has a market cap of $98.64 billion, a PE ratio of 89.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

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.