Royal Bank of Canada Increases American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Price Target to $236.00

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) had its price target upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $225.00 to $236.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on AMT. Raymond James upgraded American Tower from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Tower from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $226.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $234.00 to $223.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $246.00 target price (up previously from $225.00) on shares of American Tower in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $231.14.

American Tower Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $219.85 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42. The company has a market cap of $102.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.81. American Tower has a 12-month low of $154.58 and a 12-month high of $236.13. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $207.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.79.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.52). The company had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 23.06% and a net margin of 21.95%. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that American Tower will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 146.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total transaction of $2,333,866.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 51,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,070,789.42. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.27, for a total transaction of $2,333,866.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 51,746 shares in the company, valued at $12,070,789.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,424,177.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,227 shares of company stock worth $8,497,458 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Tower

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the first quarter worth $25,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Gold Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors 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.