American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Director Robert D. Hormats Sells 700 Shares

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Director Robert D. Hormats sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.50, for a total value of $128,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,332 shares in the company, valued at $1,345,422. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT traded up $2.66 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $181.35. 2,594,849 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,468,563. American Tower Co. has a 52 week low of $154.58 and a 52 week high of $219.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $188.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by ($0.47). The company had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.54 earnings per share. Analysts predict that American Tower Co. will post 9.96 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. American Tower’s payout ratio is presently 146.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 5.0% during the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,266 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in American Tower by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,063 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in American Tower by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 215,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,031,000 after acquiring an additional 6,612 shares during the period. Value Partners Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 2.0% during the third quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 31,073 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,114,000 after acquiring an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of American Tower by 2.4% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 143,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,601,000 after purchasing an additional 3,425 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on AMT shares. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $243.00 to $223.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho assumed coverage on American Tower in a research note on Monday, April 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.91.

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.