Hills Bank & Trust Co Sells 773 Shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT)

Hills Bank & Trust Co trimmed its position in shares of American Tower Co. (NYSE:AMT) by 3.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,520 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 773 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in American Tower were worth $5,237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMT. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in American Tower by 269.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower in the second quarter worth $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in American Tower in the third quarter worth $30,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in American Tower in the second quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in American Tower in the second quarter worth $29,000. 92.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded American Tower from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $245.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Scotiabank dropped their target price on American Tower from $248.00 to $236.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on American Tower from $223.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.85.

American Tower Stock Performance

NYSE:AMT opened at $210.97 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $228.45 and its 200 day moving average is $208.46. American Tower Co. has a fifty-two week low of $170.46 and a fifty-two week high of $243.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.54 billion, a PE ratio of 90.10, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.69.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT) last released its 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 business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Tower Co. will post 10.08 earnings per share for the current year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. American Tower’s payout ratio is 273.42%.

About American Tower

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.