Crestline Management LP Invests $295,000 in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Crestline Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,251 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after acquiring an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,892,332,000 after acquiring an additional 3,321,249 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $525,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,573,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter valued at about $95,167,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,183,563.36. The trade was a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. 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. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group upgraded Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reduced their price target on Crown Castle from $127.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.41.

Crown Castle Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:CCI traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $98.06. 2,967,894 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,882,510. The business's 50-day moving average price is $101.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.77 and a beta of 0.93. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

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

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. 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.