Everhart Financial Group Inc. Buys New Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Everhart Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,945 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 15,294 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,388,000 after buying an additional 2,452 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,051 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 3,020 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 9,913 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $900,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 79.5% in the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,857 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $985,000 after buying an additional 4,807 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.7%

NYSE:CCI opened at $98.29 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.85 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.20 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The business's fifty day moving average price is $101.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.87.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.32%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -39.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on CCI. Wolfe Research raised Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group raised Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James raised Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares in the company, valued at $2,183,563.36. The trade was a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $689,944.80. This trade represents a 35.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752 over the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CCI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.