Scotiabank Lowers American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Price Target to $220.00

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) had its target price trimmed by Scotiabank from $236.00 to $220.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on AMT. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho dropped their price target on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.42.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $186.31 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $192.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $211.29. The firm has a market cap of $87.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Tower will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 269.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in American Tower in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 431.0% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 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.