American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Hsbc Global Res

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) was upgraded by equities researchers at Hsbc Global Res to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of American Tower from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.21.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $205.61 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $187.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.81. American Tower has a twelve month low of $170.46 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.08 billion, a PE ratio of 86.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.83. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that American Tower will post 10.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.10, for a total value of $3,000,283.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Balentine LLC acquired a new position in American Tower during the third quarter worth $586,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of American Tower by 28.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,421,095 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,743,000 after purchasing an additional 314,769 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of American Tower in the third quarter valued at $1,156,000. TigerOak Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in American Tower during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,102,000. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in American Tower by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares during the period. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.