American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Raised to Strong-Buy at Citizens Jmp

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) was upgraded by analysts at Citizens Jmp to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on AMT. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JMP Securities started coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of American Tower from $251.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.23.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $187.06 on Monday. 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 52 week low of $170.46 and a 52 week high of $243.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $191.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $211.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.41 billion, a PE ratio of 78.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 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 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that American Tower will post 10.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other American Tower news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Tower

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth $30,000. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in American Tower by 431.0% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.