Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Stake Raised by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 83.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,064 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 4,111 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $945,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CCI. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Crown Castle by 10.5% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 5,934,615 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 18.9% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 3,321,249 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Crown Castle by 37.3% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,573,043 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth about $95,167,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus upgraded Crown Castle to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Crown Castle from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Crown Castle has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.71.

Insider Transactions at Crown Castle

In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were 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. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752 in the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE CCI traded up $0.30 on Friday, reaching $100.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 349,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,935,919. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.20 and a twelve month high of $120.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.37. The firm's 50 day moving average is $101.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.69. The stock has a market cap of $43.83 billion, a PE ratio of -9.36, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.88.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 164.40% and a negative net margin of 78.12%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.