American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) was upgraded by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Monday. The firm presently has a $230.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $210.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.00% from the company’s previous close.

AMT has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of American Tower from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded American Tower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on American Tower from $219.00 to $213.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped 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 research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.79.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AMT opened at $211.02 on Monday. American Tower has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $192.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $205.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $98.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.85.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. Analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 62,792 shares in the company, valued at $11,371,631.20. The trade was a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Tower

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 5.4% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,310,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 177,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $41,383,000 after buying an additional 30,499 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.1% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 130,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,273,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Tower by 412.8% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,822,000 after acquiring an additional 6,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strengthening Families & Communities LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 8.0% during the third quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 10,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,447,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. 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.