American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of American Tower (NYSE:AMT – Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on AMT. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on American Tower from $278.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of American Tower from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the company from $215.00 to $245.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $254.00 to $245.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $260.31.

American Tower Stock Down 1.8 %

AMT opened at $201.35 on Thursday. American Tower has a twelve month low of $178.17 and a twelve month high of $282.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $212.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.51. The firm has a market cap of $93.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported ($1.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.16 by ($3.63). The firm had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.68 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 15.80% and a net margin of 16.49%. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.18 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that American Tower will post 9.24 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be given a $1.56 dividend. This represents a $6.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 162.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 2,035 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.85, for a total transaction of $449,429.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 48,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,743,248.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other American Tower news, Director Samme L. Thompson sold 1,739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.59, for a total value of $380,128.01. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,830,620.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 2,035 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.85, for a total value of $449,429.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 48,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,743,248.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,587 shares of company stock worth $1,947,849 in the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 0.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,720,664 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,036,726,000 after acquiring an additional 406,906 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 0.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,350,193 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,486,565,000 after purchasing an additional 96,970 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in American Tower by 101,474.3% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,474,342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,219,094,000 after purchasing an additional 10,464,030 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in American Tower by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,601,881 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,031,259,000 after buying an additional 199,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 23.3% in the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,329,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,384,422,000 after buying an additional 1,762,240 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Company Profile

(Get Rating)

American Tower Corp. provides real estate investment services, and owns, operates, and develops multi-tenant real estate properties. It offers leasing of space on communications sites to wireless service providers, radio and television broadcast companies. It operates through the following segments: U.S.