American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at JMP Securities

JMP Securities initiated coverage on shares of American Tower (NYSE:AMT) in a report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $225.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

AMT has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays cut their target price on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.31.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $192.01 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $89.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company’s 50 day moving average is $192.08 and its 200-day moving average is $211.24. American Tower has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that American Tower will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 273.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Tower

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AMT. CX Institutional boosted its holdings in American Tower by 2.9% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,714 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in American Tower by 5.3% in the third quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

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.