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

American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $235.08.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AMT shares. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Tower

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NBT Bank N A NY boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 1,693 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its position in American Tower by 2.9% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc boosted its stake in American Tower by 2.3% in the second quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc now owns 2,476 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Tower by 1.6% during the third quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,714 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its position in shares of American Tower by 4.2% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Tower Price Performance

American Tower stock opened at $181.87 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 company has a market capitalization of $84.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $202.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.91. American Tower has a 1 year low of $170.46 and a 1 year high of $243.56.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $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 research analysts expect that American Tower will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

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.