American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Short Interest Up 10.3% in December

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,020,000 shares, an increase of 10.3% from the December 15th total of 4,550,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,450,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMT has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays reduced their price target on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Tower

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 269.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in American Tower during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:AMT traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $190.51. The company had a trading volume of 2,882,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,167,840. The firm has a market cap of $89.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.54. 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 twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that American Tower will post 10.15 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $1.62 dividend. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 273.42%.

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.