Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 2,358,442 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 79.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 606,597 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 2,358,442 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Crown Castle worth $55,053,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,384 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Ategra Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,412,000. AXA S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 89.7% during the fourth quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 62,202 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,645,000 after buying an additional 29,420 shares during the last quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP now owns 31,244 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,836,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, South Plains Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. This trade represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $96.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Crown Castle from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.41.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Crown Castle stock traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $98.06. 2,967,894 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,882,510. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.71. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The stock has a market cap of $42.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.77 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.565 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.38%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is -58.18%.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service - bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them.