American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $235.08.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AMT shares. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 269.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in American Tower in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in American Tower during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Stock Performance

Shares of AMT stock opened at $184.71 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $86.31 billion, a PE ratio of 77.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.83. American Tower has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $206.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $213.20.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during 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%. American Tower’s revenue was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

American Tower Company Profile

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.