American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.57

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT – Get Rating) announced 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 dividend yield of 3.42%. This is a positive change from American Tower’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.56.

American Tower has increased its dividend payment by an average of 15.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. American Tower has a payout ratio of 127.3% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities 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 Stock Performance

Shares of American Tower stock opened at $183.39 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market cap of $85.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s fifty day moving average is $199.74 and its 200 day moving average is $208.83. American Tower has a twelve month low of $178.17 and a twelve month high of $282.47.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of American Tower from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $244.00 to $234.00 in a report on Thursday, March 30th. Credit Suisse Group dropped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $244.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped 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 dropped 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $258.12.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AMT. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new position in American Tower in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,892,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. boosted its holdings in American Tower by 138.9% in the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 2,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 1,645 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in American Tower by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,413 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,621,000 after buying an additional 771 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in American Tower by 33.5% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,015 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $757,000 after buying an additional 756 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in American Tower by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 152,723 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,367,000 after buying an additional 2,071 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About American Tower

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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.