Goldstone Financial Group LLC Makes New $649,000 Investment in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Goldstone Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,231 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $649,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after buying an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,892,332,000 after buying an additional 3,321,249 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Crown Castle by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $525,849,000 after buying an additional 1,573,043 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at $95,167,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:CCI traded down $1.74 during trading on Friday, hitting $98.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,299,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,911,401. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $101.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.87. The company has a market capitalization of $42.80 billion, a PE ratio of 34.85 and a beta of 0.88. 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 fifty-two week low of $84.20 and a fifty-two week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. Crown Castle's revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 4.32%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is -39.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CCI shares. Bank of America initiated coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, May 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Crown Castle from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Crown Castle from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Argus upgraded Crown Castle to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $112.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

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.