Citizens Jmp Upgrades American Tower (NYSE:AMT) to Strong-Buy

Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower (NYSE:AMT) to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on AMT. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JMP Securities started coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.31.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE AMT opened at $192.01 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. American Tower has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The business has a fifty day moving average of $192.08 and a 200-day moving average of $211.24. The stock has a market cap of $89.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84.

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

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 273.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 269.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in American Tower during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 431.0% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. 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.