Handelsbanken Fonder AB Reduces Stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 229,369 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 6,931 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned about 0.05% of Crown Castle worth $23,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new stake in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. American National Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $29,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Crown Castle by 95.2% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 408 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions 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 on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. The trade was a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CCI. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Bank of America started coverage on Crown Castle in a report on Monday, May 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price target on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, New Street Research raised shares of Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. 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. According to MarketBeat, Crown Castle has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.71.

Crown Castle Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of CCI stock traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $99.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 821,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,901,207. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. Crown Castle Inc. has a one year low of $84.20 and a one year high of $120.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.32 and a beta of 0.88. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $100.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.03.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued 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 net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. 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 4.27%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.