American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of American Tower (NYSE:AMT) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $248.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior target price of $226.00.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on AMT. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $235.00 to $228.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Tower from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They issued a neutral rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $221.91.

American Tower Stock Up 3.1 %

AMT opened at $176.80 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $189.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.69. American Tower has a one year low of $154.58 and a one year high of $219.10.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by ($0.47). American Tower had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The firm had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that American Tower will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 146.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,953,352.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total transaction of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,953,352.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,532,080.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Tower

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in American Tower by 4.4% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 5,628 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $897,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in American Tower in the third quarter worth about $401,000. Mission Wealth Management LP raised its stake in American Tower by 10.0% in the third quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 2,086 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in American Tower by 1.5% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 238,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,281,000 after buying an additional 3,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its stake in American Tower by 12.0% in the third quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 5,377 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $884,000 after buying an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.