American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Short Interest Down 14.7% in July

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,090,000 shares, a drop of 14.7% from the July 15th total of 5,970,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,220,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AMT. StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Tower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of American Tower from $234.00 to $223.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $246.00 price target (up from $225.00) on shares of American Tower in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.14.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT stock traded up $1.79 on Friday, reaching $219.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,986,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,370,238. The business’s 50-day moving average is $207.09 and its 200 day moving average is $195.78. American Tower has a one year low of $154.58 and a one year high of $236.13. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $102.66 billion, a PE ratio of 49.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.81.

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

American Tower Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at $7,424,177.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Olivier Puech sold 10,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 51,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,070,789.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Robert Joseph Meyer, Jr. sold 2,181 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.93, for a total value of $508,020.33. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,424,177.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 37,227 shares of company stock worth $8,497,458. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Tower

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of American Tower in the 4th quarter worth $1,051,898,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,823,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,416,004,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839,570 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 36.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,794,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,737,760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,336,501 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $1,243,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgewood Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 4,985,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,076,352,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576,683 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently 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.