LRT Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Key Points

• LRT Capital Management cut its stake in Crown Castle by 22.7% in Q3, selling 12,283 shares and ending the period with 41,771 shares worth about $4.03 million (making CCI its 5th largest holding).
• Crown Castle announced a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 (annualized $4.25), implying a 4.9% yield420.79%, raising questions about sustainability.
• Institutional activity remains heavy—ownership is about 90.77%—with large moves including Invesco's 33.2% stake increase and Norges Bank initiating a roughly $629 million position; analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $100.13.

LRT Capital Management LLC lessened its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,771 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 12,283 shares during the period. Crown Castle comprises approximately 2.7% of LRT Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. LRT Capital Management LLC's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $4,031,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,290,381 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $7,118,201,000 after purchasing an additional 449,776 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Crown Castle by 0.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,461,578 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,204,748,000 after buying an additional 110,050 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Crown Castle by 33.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,437,685 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $621,172,000 after buying an additional 1,605,291 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 3.0% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,185,915 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $596,876,000 after buying an additional 177,896 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the second quarter worth approximately $629,431,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total transaction of $262,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 5,800 shares in the company, valued at $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total value of $401,481.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at $2,174,300.22. This trade represents a 15.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Crown Castle Price Performance

Shares of Crown Castle stock opened at $87.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $38.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.73. Crown Castle Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.01 and a fifty-two week high of $115.76.

Crown Castle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $1.0625 dividend. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 420.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on CCI shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on Crown Castle from $110.00 to $106.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. HSBC cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $88.40 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen raised Crown Castle from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $98.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $100.13.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company's assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.

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