American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.62

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 12th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of 1.62 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, October 25th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%.

American Tower has increased its dividend by an average of 12.5% per year over the last three years. American Tower has a dividend payout ratio of 95.2% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Analysts expect American Tower to earn $10.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.9%.

American Tower Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of American Tower stock traded down $1.83 during trading on Thursday, reaching $237.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,003,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,319,524. The company has a market cap of $110.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.07, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $219.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $200.47. American Tower has a 52-week low of $154.58 and a 52-week high of $243.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.52). American Tower had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 23.06%. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMT. Scotiabank raised their target price on American Tower from $223.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Tower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays dropped their price target on American Tower from $234.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Tower

In other news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total transaction of $508,020.33. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,424,177.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,424,177.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.00, for a total transaction of $4,953,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,843 shares in the company, valued at $14,223,890. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,723 shares of company stock valued at $7,795,397 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.