Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. trimmed its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 34.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,272 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 3,789 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $660,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versor Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 120.0% during the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,447 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,608 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth $1,231,000. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth $3,083,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 144,766 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $13,139,000 after buying an additional 4,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 84,925 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $7,708,000 after acquiring an additional 13,623 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $112.41.

Crown Castle Trading Down 2.1%

CCI stock traded down $2.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $98.35. 3,157,563 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,878,056. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.88 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50 day moving average of $101.58 and a 200-day moving average of $97.71. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $1.565 dividend. This represents a $6.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is -58.18%.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. This trade represents a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Company Profile

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.