Lyell Wealth Management LP Cuts Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Key Points

• Lyell Wealth Management LP reduced its stake in Crown Castle Inc. by 25.3%, holding 20,691 shares valued at approximately $2.15 million after selling 7,016 shares in Q1.
• Crown Castle reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.02, exceeding analysts' expectations and demonstrating a 4.2% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company's stock currently has a market cap of $46.54 billion and has seen significant insider selling, with executives offloading a combined 31,600 shares recently.

Lyell Wealth Management LP trimmed its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 25.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,691 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 7,016 shares during the period. Lyell Wealth Management LP's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,157,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Crown Castle by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 144,766 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $13,139,000 after buying an additional 4,772 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in Crown Castle by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 117,827 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $10,579,000 after acquiring an additional 29,973 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 5,889 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,119,225,000 after purchasing an additional 228,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,726 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares in the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE CCI traded up $1.80 during trading on Friday, hitting $106.89. The company had a trading volume of 3,429,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,073,515. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $99.21. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.89.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 85.54% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. Crown Castle's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. On average, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently -39.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on CCI. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, May 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $124.00 price objective (up from $122.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Crown Castle from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $105.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $116.18.

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.