Hixon Zuercher LLC Sells 8,352 Shares of American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT)

Hixon Zuercher LLC lessened its holdings in American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT - Free Report) by 50.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,059 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 8,352 shares during the period. Hixon Zuercher LLC's holdings in American Tower were worth $1,754,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMT. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new position in American Tower in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of American Tower in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in American Tower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in American Tower by 218.0% during the 1st quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 159 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in American Tower in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 92.69% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities lifted their price target on American Tower from $248.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of American Tower from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of American Tower in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $250.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of American Tower from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on American Tower from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $240.25.

American Tower Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of AMT stock traded down $1.57 on Wednesday, hitting $222.90. The stock had a trading volume of 1,937,865 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,501,011. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.43. American Tower Corporation has a twelve month low of $172.51 and a twelve month high of $243.56. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $215.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $204.23. The firm has a market cap of $104.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.30, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.82.

American Tower (NYSE:AMT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.34. American Tower had a return on equity of 30.20% and a net margin of 17.34%. The company had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.79 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that American Tower Corporation will post 10.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Tower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. American Tower's payout ratio is currently 174.81%.

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.