Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA Has $210,000 Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA cut its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 60.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,017 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 3,106 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $210,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CCI. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA increased its holdings in Crown Castle by 3.0% in the first quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 3,532 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Crown Castle by 36.6% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 448 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in Crown Castle by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,373 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 62.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 347 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,526 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. New Street Research upgraded Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wolfe Research raised Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Raymond James Financial raised Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total transaction of $384,192.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,465 shares in the company, valued at $689,944.80. This represents a 35.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.4%

CCI opened at $100.71 on Monday. 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 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50 day moving average of $101.38 and a 200-day moving average of $96.66.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 EPS 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 company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. Crown Castle's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is presently -39.50%.

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.

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