Bell Bank Purchases 4,763 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Bell Bank raised its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 68,836 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 4,763 shares during the quarter. Bell Bank's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $7,175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 3,532 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,373 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 62.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 347 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,526 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,465 shares in the company, valued at $689,944.80. This represents a 35.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, 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. In the last 90 days, 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

Several brokerages recently commented on CCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, May 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.71.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.5%

Crown Castle stock traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $99.28. The stock had a trading volume of 3,549,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,916,897. The company has a market capitalization of $43.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.23, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $101.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.76. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.20 and a one year high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 164.40% and a negative net margin of 78.12%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently -39.50%.

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.