American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Plans Dividend Increase – $1.57 Per Share

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT – Get Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 25th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of 1.57 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, July 10th. This represents a $6.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.56.

American Tower has raised its dividend payment by an average of 15.7% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 12 years. American Tower has a dividend payout ratio of 127.1% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect American Tower to earn $10.18 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.3%.

American Tower Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of AMT stock opened at $182.56 on Friday. American Tower has a 12-month low of $178.17 and a 12-month high of $282.47. The company has a market capitalization of $85.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $199.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.28 by ($1.56). American Tower had a net margin of 12.85% and a return on equity of 11.65%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that American Tower will post 9.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of American Tower from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $244.00 to $234.00 in a report on Thursday, March 30th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $227.00 to $238.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of American Tower from $224.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $254.00 to $245.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $258.12.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Tower

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Personal Capital Advisors Corp increased its position in shares of American Tower by 1.7% during the first quarter. Personal Capital Advisors Corp now owns 2,510 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $631,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 40.3% during the first quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 174 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners increased its position in shares of American Tower by 7.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 806 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Tower by 17.8% during the first quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 358 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Company Profile

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American Tower Corp. provides real estate investment services, and owns, operates, and develops multi-tenant real estate properties. It offers leasing of space on communications sites to wireless service providers, radio and television broadcast companies. It operates through the following segments: U.S.