Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Stock Holdings Decreased by Nuveen Asset Management LLC

Nuveen Asset Management LLC cut its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,465,814 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 442,129 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.57% of Crown Castle worth $223,797,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CCI. Accurate Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Crown Castle by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,429 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,373 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,475 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,041,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,285 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on CCI. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $112.71.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of CCI stock traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $102.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,579,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,874,151. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.82 billion, a PE ratio of 36.50 and a beta of 0.93. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $101.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.49. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.20 and a 12-month high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released 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). The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during 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 company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company 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 was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.08%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is currently -58.18%.

Insider Activity

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $689,944.80. This represents a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.