M&T Bank Corp Sells 8,847 Shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

M&T Bank Corp cut its position in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 11.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,773 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 8,847 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $6,960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Crown Castle in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 62.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 347 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CCI shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on Crown Castle from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their price target on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Argus raised Crown Castle to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $113.06.

Crown Castle Price Performance

NYSE:CCI traded down $1.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $102.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,804,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,934,106. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $101.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.30. The company has a market capitalization of $44.72 billion, a PE ratio of -9.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.72 by ($0.62). The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 164.40% and a negative net margin of 78.12%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.14%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -39.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Crown Castle

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,528 shares in the company, valued at $2,183,563.36. The trade was a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 6,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $689,944.80. This trade represents a 35.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.