American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of American Tower (NYSE:AMT) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $250.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on American Tower from $214.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, JMP Securities started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $232.07.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT opened at $219.44 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $200.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.07. The company has a market capitalization of $102.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.59, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. 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, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Tower will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Tower

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.