American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Stock Keeps “Buy” Rating at Argus

American Tower (NYSE:AMT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Argus in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $210.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Argus‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 6.93% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on AMT. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of American Tower from $214.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Mizuho set a $208.00 target price on shares of American Tower in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $198.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of American Tower in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on American Tower from $210.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $216.11.

American Tower Stock Performance

AMT opened at $196.38 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $91.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.51. American Tower has a 1-year low of $160.06 and a 1-year high of $202.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $176.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.54.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.64. American Tower had a return on equity of 32.71% and a net margin of 30.10%. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.76 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that American Tower will post 10.80 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Tower announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, October 27th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rajesh Kalathur bought 2,829 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $177.00 per share, for a total transaction of $500,733.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 7,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,374,405. This represents a 57.31% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Ruth Dowling sold 952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.81, for a total transaction of $176,891.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 26,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,855,772.73. This represents a 3.51% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Tower

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new position in American Tower during the second quarter worth $25,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in American Tower in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in American Tower in the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of American Tower during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

American Tower Company Profile

American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and develops wireless communications infrastructure. Its portfolio primarily includes communications towers, rooftop sites, distributed antenna systems and other infrastructure used by wireless carriers, broadcasters, governments and businesses to support voice, data and video communications.

The company leases space on its sites to multiple customers, allowing them to install antennas and related equipment without building and maintaining individual tower locations.