Generali Investments Management Co LLC Grows Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Generali Investments Management Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 26.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,349 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 5,510 shares during the period. Generali Investments Management Co LLC's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Versor Investments LP boosted its position in Crown Castle by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,447 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,608 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Crown Castle by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 144,766 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $13,139,000 after purchasing an additional 4,772 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in Crown Castle by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 204,237 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $18,537,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 98.3% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 26,428 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,399,000 after purchasing an additional 13,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its position in Crown Castle by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,839,036 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $257,671,000 after purchasing an additional 242,565 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total value of $2,127,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at $11,762,542.98. The trade was a 15.32% 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 in the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Crown Castle from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Crown Castle has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $112.71.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE:CCI traded down $1.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $98.97. The stock had a trading volume of 2,805,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,898,981. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.54. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $101.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $97.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.10 billion, a PE ratio of 35.09 and a beta of 0.88.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. The business's revenue 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 fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is -39.50%.

Crown Castle 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.