Park Avenue Securities LLC Trims Stock Position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI)

Park Avenue Securities LLC trimmed its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 67.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,391 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 26,157 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $1,291,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. American National Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Crown Castle during the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Crown Castle during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 95.2% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 408 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $121.00 to $115.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America began coverage on Crown Castle in a research report on Monday, May 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $112.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.72, for a total value of $384,192.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,465 shares in the company, valued at $689,944.80. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,762,542.98. The trade was a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $3,362,752 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Up 0.5%

CCI traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $99.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,803,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,911,417. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.45 and a beta of 0.88. The stock's 50-day moving average is $100.90 and its 200-day moving average is $97.03. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.20 and a 1 year high of $120.92.

Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. Crown Castle's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Crown Castle Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's payout ratio is -39.50%.

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.