Scotiabank Cuts American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Price Target to $236.00

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) had its price objective trimmed by Scotiabank from $248.00 to $236.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sector outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on AMT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on American Tower from $223.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Mizuho boosted their price target on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.85.

American Tower Price Performance

AMT stock opened at $211.26 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $98.68 billion, a PE ratio of 89.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $228.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $208.69. American Tower has a 12-month low of $170.46 and a 12-month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued 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). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that American Tower will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Tower

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in American Tower by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,248,812,000 after buying an additional 965,938 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 41.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,243,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885,421 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of American Tower by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,705,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $720,206,000 after acquiring an additional 302,676 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in American Tower by 16.3% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,310,893 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $643,571,000 after purchasing an additional 464,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in American Tower by 0.4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 1,630,644 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $315,868,000 after purchasing an additional 6,193 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

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.