Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Cuts Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 31.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,375 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 67,552 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $13,557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in 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. boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,475 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,041,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,285 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,526 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Crown Castle stock traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $100.14. The company had a trading volume of 927,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,869,032. 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 current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $101.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.29. The firm has a market cap of $43.61 billion, a PE ratio of 35.50 and a beta of 0.93.

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 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current 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 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 yield of 4.24%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -39.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. The trade was a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research raised Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted 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. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $112.71.

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.