New York State Teachers Retirement System Trims Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 328,097 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 15,827 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Crown Castle worth $34,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its position in Crown Castle by 3.0% during the first quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 3,532 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 448 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,373 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in Crown Castle by 62.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 347 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,526 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $850,960.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,183,563.36. The trade was a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 6,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $689,944.80. This represents a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CCI traded down $0.25 on Friday, reaching $102.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,246,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,929,989. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.84. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.20 and a 52-week high of $120.92. The company has a market cap of $44.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.57, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.88.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 negative return on equity of 164.40% and a negative net margin of 78.12%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently -39.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Monday, May 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and cut their target price for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.71.

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.