Ethic Inc. Sells 12,856 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. trimmed its Crown Castle stake by 20.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 12,856 shares and ending with 48,899 shares valued at about $4.35 million.
• Insiders also sold stock: EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares and VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares, both reducing their ownership positions meaningfully.
• Analysts remain cautiously positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and average price target of $99.39, while Crown Castle reported stronger-than-expected quarterly EPS of $1.02 and maintained a 4.7% dividend yield.

Ethic Inc. reduced its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 20.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,899 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 12,856 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Crown Castle were worth $4,346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CCI. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the third quarter worth about $29,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 269.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 381 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total transaction of $401,481.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at $2,174,300.22. This trade represents a 15.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 5,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $507,442. This trade represents a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial began coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "hold" rating and a $90.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $116.00 to $105.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two investment 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $99.39.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI stock opened at $90.55 on Monday. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.96 and a 52-week high of $115.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $85.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.99.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.55. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 64.64% and a net margin of 25.13%.The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.42 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. Crown Castle's quarterly revenue was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Crown Castle has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.380-4.490 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 175.62%.

Crown Castle Profile

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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