Barclays Boosts American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Price Target to $255.00

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) had its target price raised by Barclays from $223.00 to $255.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Mizuho upped their target price on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on American Tower from $246.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. TD Cowen upped their target price on American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $235.21.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $219.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $228.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $205.45. American Tower has a one year low of $157.25 and a one year high of $243.56. The firm has a market cap of $102.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.83.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.13 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.80%.

Insider Transactions at American Tower

In related news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at $7,424,177.89. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other American Tower news, CEO Steven O. Vondran sold 21,537 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was 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 approximately $14,223,890. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,424,177.89. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,723 shares of company stock worth $7,795,397 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMT. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of American Tower by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,416,004,000 after acquiring an additional 2,839,570 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American Tower by 36.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,794,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,737,760,000 after acquiring an additional 2,336,501 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position 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 worth $1,243,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885,421 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of American Tower by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,991,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,248,812,000 after acquiring an additional 965,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the 1st quarter worth about $164,300,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by 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.