Hancock Whitney Corp Cuts Stock Position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Hancock Whitney Corp trimmed its position in American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 7.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,441 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 113 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in American Tower were worth $335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of American Tower by 41.8% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,395,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,243,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885,421 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $1,211,397,000 after purchasing an additional 243,061 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in American Tower by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,705,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $720,206,000 after purchasing an additional 302,676 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of American Tower by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,537,892 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $822,772,000 after buying an additional 226,999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Tower by 3.2% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,731,570 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $402,694,000 after buying an additional 52,925 shares in the last quarter. 92.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AMT. StockNews.com cut American Tower from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of American Tower from $225.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on American Tower from $255.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Tower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.54.

American Tower Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AMT opened at $209.31 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $216.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.14. American Tower Co. has a 52-week low of $170.46 and a 52-week high of $243.56. 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 (NYSE:AMT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.45 by ($1.56). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. American Tower had a return on equity of 22.01% and a net margin of 10.05%. American Tower’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

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

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.