Crown Castle Inc. $CCI Shares Sold by Rafferty Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Crown Castle Inc. by 17.1%, owning 47,384 shares after selling 9,807 shares, valuing their holdings at approximately $4.94 million.
• Several hedge funds increased their positions in Crown Castle, with notable boosts from Beacon Capital Management LLC (36.6%) and Harbour Investments Inc. (18.9%).
• Crown Castle reported better-than-expected earnings, with an EPS of $1.02, exceeding analysts' estimates of $1.00, and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 per share with a yield of 4.3%.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 17.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,384 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 9,807 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $4,939,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its stake in Crown Castle by 3.0% in the first quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 3,532 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in Crown Castle by 18.9% in the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 672 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 1.8% in the first quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,393 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $666,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Crown Castle by 36.6% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 448 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in Crown Castle by 0.3% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 37,357 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,894,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CCI shares. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $124.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Crown Castle in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Crown Castle from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $120.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $121.00 to $119.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Crown Castle from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $125.00 in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Crown Castle in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $116.41.

Crown Castle Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of CCI traded up $1.44 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $99.18. 3,262,933 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,993,643. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.92. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.20 and a 12-month high of $120.92. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $103.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $101.16.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a negative net margin of 85.54% and a negative return on equity of 619.62%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. Crown Castle has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.140-4.250 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.0625 per share. 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 4.3%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is -39.83%.

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.