Bessemer Group Inc. Sells 53,968 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Bessemer Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 75.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,774 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 53,968 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,853,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Crown Castle by 10.5% during 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 buying an additional 5,934,615 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Crown Castle by 18.9% during 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 buying an additional 3,321,249 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Crown Castle by 37.3% during 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 buying an additional 1,573,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at about $95,167,000. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Bank of America began coverage on Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, May 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.71.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE:CCI opened at $100.71 on Friday. 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 quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $43.86 billion, a PE ratio of -9.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $101.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.67.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 negative net margin of 78.12% and a negative return on equity of 164.40%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. Crown Castle's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is presently -39.50%.

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.

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