American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $233.29.

AMT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho raised their price objective on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on American Tower from $246.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $230.00 target price on the stock.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In related news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $4,953,510.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,223,890. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other American Tower news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total value of $4,953,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,223,890. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total transaction of $2,333,866.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,070,789.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,723 shares of company stock valued at $7,795,397. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Tower

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American Tower by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,248,812,000 after acquiring an additional 965,938 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 16,440,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,549,366,000 after buying an additional 583,892 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,416,004,000 after buying an additional 2,839,570 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in American Tower by 36.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,794,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,737,760,000 after acquiring an additional 2,336,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Akre Capital Management LLC lifted its position in American Tower by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 6,804,599 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,468,977,000 after acquiring an additional 36,375 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $235.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.77 billion, a PE ratio of 53.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.83. American Tower has a 1-year low of $154.58 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $224.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $202.39.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly 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). American Tower had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 23.06%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.46 EPS. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that American Tower will post 10.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.