Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Sold by Oak Thistle LLC

Oak Thistle LLC trimmed its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 58.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,702 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 7,864 shares during the quarter. Oak Thistle LLC's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CCI. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,892,332,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,249 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Crown Castle by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,333,158 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,119,225,000 after buying an additional 228,007 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $561,714,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,144,359 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $557,662,000 after purchasing an additional 58,903 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $525,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,043 shares during the period. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related 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 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 $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,528 shares in the company, valued at $2,183,563.36. This represents a 28.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $3,362,752. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Trading Down 2.0%

Crown Castle stock traded down $2.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $111.60. The company had a trading volume of 3,419,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,744,282. Crown Castle Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.20 and a 52 week high of $120.92. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $102.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.88.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a negative return on equity of 619.62% and a negative net margin of 85.54%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is presently -39.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCI has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. New Street Research upgraded Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America started coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, May 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Crown Castle from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $115.94.

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.