Short Interest in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Expands By 10.3%

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

American Tower Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of American Tower stock traded up $0.44 during trading on Monday, reaching $190.51. 2,882,489 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,167,840. American Tower has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $192.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $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. The firm has a market capitalization 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.

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). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower will post 10.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of American Tower stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total transaction of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate 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. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its position in shares of American Tower by 3.8% during the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 6,853 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in American Tower by 113.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 59,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,549,000 after purchasing an additional 31,616 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,449,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the period. ProVise Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 48.2% in the second quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC now owns 15,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,959,000 after purchasing an additional 4,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of American Tower by 725.8% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 45,583 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,860,000 after buying an additional 40,063 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMT. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $230.67.

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.