American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,550,000 shares, a decrease of 6.8% from the November 30th total of 4,880,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,430,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMT. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.08.

American Tower Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE AMT traded up $1.49 on Wednesday, reaching $183.41. The company had a trading volume of 2,115,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,340,231. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. American Tower has a 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The stock has a market cap of $85.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.39, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $201.23 and its 200-day moving average is $212.71.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior 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. Equities analysts predict that American Tower will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $1.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in American Tower by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after buying an additional 635,726 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in American Tower by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,211,397,000 after buying an additional 243,061 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.