Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Cuts Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Key Points

• Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board decreased its stake in Crown Castle Inc. by 28.5%, selling 3,426 shares, leaving them with a total of 8,615 shares valued at approximately $898,000.
• Crown Castle reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.02, surpassing analysts' expectations, but had a negative net margin of 85.54% and a revenue decline of 4.2% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share, representing an annualized yield of 4.1%, with a dividend payout ratio currently at -39.83%.

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lowered its stake in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 28.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,615 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 3,426 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CCI. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 210.3% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 5,961 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 4,040 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 63,312 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,746,000 after acquiring an additional 7,043 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,442,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 71,742 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $6,512,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the period. Finally, F M Investments LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. F M Investments LLC now owns 13,472 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Performance

CCI traded down $1.63 during trading on Friday, reaching $104.58. 1,964,387 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,296,794. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.20 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.90. The company has a market cap of $45.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.80, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -39.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Crown Castle from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $124.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $116.24.

Crown Castle 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.