American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Shares Up 6.6% – Should You Buy?

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)’s stock price shot up 6.6% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $205.25 and last traded at $204.69. 540,410 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 2,138,532 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.00.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. 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 note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.00.

American Tower Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $185.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.14. The firm has a market cap of $94.84 billion, a PE ratio of 85.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84. 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The shares were 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 directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Tower

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMT. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in American Tower by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after acquiring an additional 635,726 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 19,176,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,516,890,000 after acquiring an additional 3,437,602 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,342,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,074,956,000 after acquiring an additional 129,192 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,179,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,050,390,000 after acquiring an additional 537,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 66.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,570,547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,421,413 shares in the last quarter. 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.