Kennebec Savings Bank Lowers Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Kennebec Savings Bank decreased its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 70.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,444 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 3,368 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 11.1% in the first quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 20,855 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,086 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $30,150,000. Pines Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Crown Castle during the first quarter worth $206,000. Stablepoint Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 32.5% during the first quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 58,693 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $6,118,000 after buying an additional 14,399 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 11.9% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 4,317 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $450,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group upgraded Crown Castle from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Scotiabank upped 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, Citigroup upped their target price on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.71.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of CCI opened at $98.97 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $101.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.09. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.20 and a 12 month high of $120.92. The firm has a market cap 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 earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). Crown Castle had a net margin of 18.59% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. Crown Castle's revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is -39.50%.

Insider Activity at Crown Castle

In other Crown Castle news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. This trade represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares in the company, valued at $689,944.80. This represents a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Company 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.

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