American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Upgraded at Hsbc Global Res

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) was upgraded by analysts at Hsbc Global Res to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AMT. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on American Tower from $260.00 to $234.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays reduced their price objective on American Tower from $215.00 to $214.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on American Tower from $236.00 to $220.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho reduced their price objective on American Tower from $221.00 to $204.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JMP Securities started coverage on American Tower in a report on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.21.

American Tower Price Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $205.61 on Thursday. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.81. The company has a market cap of $96.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84. American Tower has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.83. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. American Tower’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Rodney M. Smith sold 16,567 shares of the firm’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 value of $3,000,283.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,371,631.20. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter worth $88,356,000. ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 6,922 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. LM Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 86.8% during the 4th quarter. LM Advisors LLC now owns 2,002 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of American Tower by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 40,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,515,000 after acquiring an additional 3,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of American Tower during the 4th quarter worth $63,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by 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.