American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have issued a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $240.25.

A number of brokerages have commented on AMT. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Monday, May 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $255.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Tower

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the first quarter worth $25,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 100.0% during the first quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 120 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the first quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Up 0.8%

AMT opened at $211.89 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $215.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $201.65. American Tower has a twelve month low of $172.51 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.41, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.86.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.34. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is 174.81%.

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.