Brokerages Set American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) Price Target at $243.88

Key Points

• American Tower Corporation has been rated with a consensus of "Moderate Buy" by 18 analysts, with three holds, thirteen buys, and two strong buys.
• The stock's price target has been raised by several brokerages, including JPMorgan and UBS, with targets now between $255.00 and $260.00.
• American Tower reported earnings of $2.60 per share for the last quarter, slightly exceeding analysts' expectations, despite a 9.4% revenue decline year-over-year.

American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $243.8750.

Several brokerages have issued reports on AMT. UBS Group boosted their price target on American Tower from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on American Tower from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $245.00 price target (down from $250.00) on shares of American Tower in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. HSBC lowered American Tower from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $235.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $250.00 price objective on American Tower and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th.

American Tower Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of American Tower stock traded down $3.50 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $206.51. The company had a trading volume of 1,727,522 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,116,492. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $218.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.36, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $96.70 billion, a PE ratio of 75.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.82. American Tower has a fifty-two week low of $172.51 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 24.85% and a net margin of 12.60%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.79 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Tower will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. American Tower's dividend payout ratio is 247.27%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In other American Tower news, CEO Juan Font sold 720 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $149,997.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 23,425 shares in the company, valued at $4,880,130.25. This represents a 2.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the 1st quarter worth $991,525,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 21.8% during the 4th 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 during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,563,046 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,570,547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,421,413 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 160.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,920,100 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $902,396,000 after acquiring an additional 3,032,005 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of American Tower by 39.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,144,040 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,772,144,000 after acquiring an additional 2,309,627 shares during the period. 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.