American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Downgraded to “Equal Weight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Tower (NYSE:AMT) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $230.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $245.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com raised American Tower from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. TD Cowen upped their target price on American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on American Tower from $246.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $235.21.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $217.93 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $101.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.96, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $228.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $205.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. American Tower has a 12 month low of $157.25 and a 12 month high of $243.56.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.52). American Tower had a return on equity of 23.06% and a net margin of 21.95%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.13 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Tower news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 61,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,223,890. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other American Tower news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 61,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,223,890. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,424,177.89. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,723 shares of company stock valued at $7,795,397 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meyer Handelman Co. acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $801,000. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 38,528 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,613,000 after buying an additional 4,660 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,401 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,029,000 after buying an additional 4,430 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 29.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 41,284 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,157,000 after buying an additional 9,275 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.