California State Teachers Retirement System Has $63.92 Million Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

California State Teachers Retirement System cut its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 704,324 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 9,551 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.16% of Crown Castle worth $63,924,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Crown Castle by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,302 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth approximately $259,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 38.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,782 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 1,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 247,572 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $22,470,000 after acquiring an additional 43,439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.2%

CCI traded down $0.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $100.15. 5,068,734 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,884,744. The company's fifty day moving average price is $101.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.61 billion, a PE ratio of 35.51 and a beta of 0.93. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54.

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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.24%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is currently -39.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Citigroup increased their target price on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Wolfe Research raised Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 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 a total of 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752 in the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.