American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $185.08, but opened at $190.00. American Tower shares last traded at $189.21, with a volume of 487,933 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.23.

American Tower Trading Down 2.6 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $87.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. American Tower’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that American Tower Co. will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMT. Balentine LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth about $586,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in American Tower by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,743,000 after purchasing an additional 314,769 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,156,000. Czech National Bank lifted its position in American Tower by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 95,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,128,000 after buying an additional 6,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

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.