Equitable Trust Co. Cuts Position in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Key Points

• Equitable Trust Co. reduced its stake in Crown Castle by 91.2%, selling 203,552 shares in the fourth quarter and retaining 19,760 shares valued at about $1.756 million.
• Crown Castle topped Q1 estimates with $1.02 EPS (vs. $0.47 expected) and $1.01B revenue, and set FY2026 guidance of $4.38–$4.49 per share (consensus ~4.22).
• Dividend and insider signals: the REIT pays a $4.25 annual dividend (4.7% yield) but has a 175.6% payout ratio, and several insiders have recently sold shares, which may raise questions about dividend sustainability.

Equitable Trust Co. decreased its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 91.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,760 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 203,552 shares during the quarter. Equitable Trust Co.'s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCI. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Crown Castle by 7.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,444 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,714,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 6.9% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 87,611 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $9,000,000 after acquiring an additional 5,630 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 3.7% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,655 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $786,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 49.3% during the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 10,913 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,121,000 after acquiring an additional 3,603 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Crown Castle by 5.6% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,955 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of CCI stock opened at $90.23 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $85.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.04. The company has a market cap of $39.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.29, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.93. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.96 and a 12 month high of $115.76.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.42 million. Crown Castle had a net margin of 25.13% and a negative return on equity of 64.64%. The company's revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is presently 175.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total transaction of $262,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,174,300.22. The trade was a 15.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $94.00 to $91.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $85.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $116.00 to $105.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $99.39.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company's assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.

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