Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for American Tower (NYSE:AMT) Stock Price

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company has lowered its target price for American Tower's stock from $240.00 to $230.00, maintaining an "overweight" rating, but indicating a potential upside of 7.54% from the current stock price.
• Other research firms have provided mixed ratings and target price adjustments, with Royal Bank of Canada increasing its target to $250.00 while HSBC downgraded it to a "hold" with a $235.00 target.
• American Tower reported a quarterly EPS of $2.60, slightly above expectations, but noted a year-over-year revenue decline of 9.4% despite a substantial overall market capitalization of $100.13 billion.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $240.00 to $230.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the real estate investment trust's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective indicates a potential upside of 8.40% from the company's current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of American Tower from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $231.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of American Tower in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of American Tower from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $235.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $243.88.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $212.18 on Wednesday. American Tower has a twelve month low of $172.51 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.16, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.36. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $218.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.67.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.01. American Tower had a net margin of 12.60% and a return on equity of 24.85%. The firm had revenue of $2.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.79 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that American Tower will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Tower news, CEO Juan Font sold 720 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.33, for a total value of $149,997.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 23,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,880,130.25. This represents a 2.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Motco grew its position in American Tower by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Motco now owns 1,944 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Fire Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Fire Capital Management LLC now owns 3,787 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $837,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 59.0% in the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 83,801 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $18,522,000 after acquiring an additional 31,107 shares during the period. Redmond Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Tower in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,381,000. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Tower by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 70,090 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $15,491,000 after acquiring an additional 984 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

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.