DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Raises Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 269,126 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 5,930 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.06% of Crown Castle worth $27,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 3,532 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 36.6% during the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 448 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.3% during the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 37,357 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,894,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 62.1% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 347 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 6.1% in the first quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,424 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.2%

CCI traded down $1.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $102.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,804,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,934,106. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.30. The stock has a market cap of $44.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.54, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92.

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

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.14%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -39.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lifted their target price 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. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $113.06.

Insider Activity

In other Crown Castle news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the company'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 owned 110,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president owned 6,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Crown Castle Company 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.