8,445 Shares in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Bought by Applied Finance Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Applied Finance Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI), purchasing 8,445 shares valued at approximately $880,000.
• Several other hedge funds also initiated positions in Crown Castle, with a combined investment indicating that institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.
• Crown Castle's recent financial results showed a modest EPS of $1.02, slightly above the consensus estimate of $1.00, although revenues were down 4.2% year-over-year.

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,445 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $880,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Crown Castle by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,892,332,000 after acquiring an additional 3,321,249 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,119,225,000 after acquiring an additional 228,007 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $561,714,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Crown Castle by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,144,359 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $557,662,000 after acquiring an additional 58,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Crown Castle by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $525,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,573,043 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 20,528 shares in the company, valued at $2,183,563.36. The trade was a 28.04% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 110,571 shares of the company's stock, 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. Insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of Crown Castle stock traded down $0.91 on Wednesday, reaching $108.42. The company had a trading volume of 738,722 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,228,960. The firm has a market cap of $47.21 billion, a PE ratio of -10.16, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.88. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $102.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.88. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 85.54% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -39.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CCI shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, May 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $124.00 target price (up from $122.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $116.18.

Crown Castle 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.