American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Now Covered by JMP Securities

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

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on AMT. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank reduced 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 note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $226.23.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $183.87 on Monday. American Tower has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $210.97. The firm has a market cap of $85.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Tower

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 9.0% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after acquiring an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of American Tower by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 70,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,731,000 after purchasing an additional 3,861 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 58,617 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,394,000 after buying an additional 3,218 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in American Tower by 90.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 4,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $923,000 after buying an additional 2,257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wallace Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower in the second quarter worth approximately $550,000. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

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.