American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of American Tower (NYSE:AMT) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $230.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior target price of $210.00.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Hsbc Global Res raised American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup upped their target price on American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.79.

American Tower Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:AMT opened at $213.17 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.95, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $192.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $205.61.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is an increase from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Insider Activity at American Tower

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Tower

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AMT. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,310,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 177,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,383,000 after acquiring an additional 30,499 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 130,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,273,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 412.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,822,000 after acquiring an additional 6,308 shares during the period. Finally, Strengthening Families & Communities LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 10,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,447,000 after acquiring an additional 778 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.