The Goldman Sachs Group Has Lowered Expectations for American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Stock Price

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) had its price target decreased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $260.00 to $234.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on AMT. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.08.

American Tower Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of AMT opened at $197.16 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. American Tower has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The firm has a market cap of $92.13 billion, a PE ratio of 83.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average is $210.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $213.44.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that American Tower will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Tower

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMT. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,173,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,924,091,000 after buying an additional 635,726 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,213,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,599,074,000 after purchasing an additional 204,426 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in American Tower by 25.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,642,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,474,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,646 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in American Tower by 41.8% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,243,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in American Tower by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,208,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,211,397,000 after purchasing an additional 243,061 shares during the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Tower Company Profile

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.