American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) Shares Sold by Hancock Whitney Corp

Hancock Whitney Corp reduced its stake in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,441 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 113 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in American Tower were worth $335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Balentine LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Tower during the third quarter worth $586,000. Czech National Bank grew its position in American Tower by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 95,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,128,000 after acquiring an additional 6,163 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in American Tower by 27.7% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,401 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,029,000 after purchasing an additional 4,430 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of American Tower by 29.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 41,284 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,157,000 after purchasing an additional 9,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 46.8% in the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 25,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,980,000 after purchasing an additional 8,195 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of American Tower from $255.00 to $251.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 18th. Mizuho lifted their target price on American Tower from $205.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com downgraded American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $245.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Tower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.54.

American Tower Price Performance

Shares of AMT opened at $209.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. American Tower Co. has a 1-year low of $170.46 and a 1-year high of $243.56. The stock has a market cap of $97.81 billion, a PE ratio of 88.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $216.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.14.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($1.56). American Tower had a net margin of 10.05% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 EPS for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s payout ratio is currently 273.42%.

American Tower 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.