American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) Receives $218.79 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $218.7895.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on American Tower from $226.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Argus set a $210.00 price target on American Tower in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen raised American Tower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, October 12th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of American Tower in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $231.00 to $229.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $173.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.79, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.92. American Tower has a one year low of $166.88 and a one year high of $234.33. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $177.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.24.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 29th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 29th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 108.63%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In other news, major shareholder Tower Corp /Ma/ American sold 2,288,621 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.75, for a total transaction of $159,631,314.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 211,379 shares in the company, valued at $14,743,685.25. The trade was a 91.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American Tower by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,640,168 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,239,277,000 after acquiring an additional 611,801 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in American Tower by 24.3% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 12,666,082 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,799,458,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474,328 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in American Tower by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,888,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,324,822,000 after acquiring an additional 208,109 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in American Tower during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,371,875,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,038,061 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,060,103,000 after purchasing an additional 57,545 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About American Tower

American Tower (NYSE: AMT) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and develops wireless and broadcast communications infrastructure. The company’s core business is leasing space on communications sites — including towers, rooftops and other structures — to wireless carriers, broadcasters, government agencies and enterprise customers. Its business model centers on long-term site leases and contracts that provide recurring revenue tied to the footprint and density of wireless networks.

Beyond traditional tower assets, American Tower offers a range of infrastructure and network services to support mobile, broadband and broadcast connectivity.