Intact Investment Management Inc. Sells 8,100 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Intact Investment Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 6.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 108,900 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 8,100 shares during the quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $11,351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 62.1% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 347 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 95.2% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 408 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,465 shares in the company, valued at $689,944.80. This trade represents a 35.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 ninety days, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

NYSE:CCI traded up $0.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $100.09. 5,035,018 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,922,775. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.88. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $101.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The company 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 4.25%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is currently -39.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on CCI. New Street Research raised Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Crown Castle from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup increased their price target on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.71.

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.