Scotiabank Cuts American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Price Target to $223.00

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) had its price target reduced by Scotiabank from $243.00 to $223.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on American Tower from $183.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of American Tower from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Raymond James upgraded shares of American Tower from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $226.00 to $248.00 in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $230.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on American Tower from $228.00 to $220.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $221.91.

American Tower Stock Up 1.2 %

American Tower stock opened at $181.74 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. American Tower has a 1-year low of $154.58 and a 1-year high of $219.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.39. The company has a market cap of $84.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.71.

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

American Tower Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 146.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total value of $2,367,722.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,953,352.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Pamela D. A. Reeve sold 5,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.46, for a total transaction of $962,584.84. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,532,080.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 11,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.71, for a total value of $2,367,722.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,953,352.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Tower

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 5,628 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in American Tower in the third quarter valued at about $401,000. Mission Wealth Management LP raised its stake in American Tower by 10.0% during the third quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 2,086 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.5% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 238,865 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,281,000 after acquiring an additional 3,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 5,377 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $884,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is 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.