American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $217.90, but opened at $225.00. American Tower shares last traded at $224.13, with a volume of 674,342 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on AMT. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JMP Securities began coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective for the company. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $232.07.

American Tower Trading Down 3.4 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $103.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $202.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.19.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. This is a boost from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.62. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.37%.

Insider Activity

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Tower

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Holocene Advisors LP grew its position in shares of American Tower by 13.0% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 13,855 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 261,653 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $60,850,000 after acquiring an additional 43,675 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at about $110,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 29.8% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 22,055 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,129,000 after purchasing an additional 5,064 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in American Tower during the third quarter worth about $5,798,000. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.