Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Stock

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) had its target price lifted by Barclays from $214.00 to $223.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of American Tower from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $210.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. JMP Securities initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $229.43.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $216.41 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company has a market cap of $101.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.31, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85. American Tower has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $195.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $205.24.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that American Tower will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Tower

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Graney & King LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.