Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Shares Acquired by RFG Advisory LLC

RFG Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 143.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,049 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 16,525 shares during the quarter. RFG Advisory LLC's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $2,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versor Investments LP lifted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 8,447 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,608 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Crown Castle by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 144,766 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $13,139,000 after buying an additional 4,772 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in Crown Castle by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 204,237 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $18,537,000 after buying an additional 8,800 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in Crown Castle by 98.3% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 26,428 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,399,000 after buying an additional 13,100 shares during the period. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its position in Crown Castle by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,839,036 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $257,671,000 after buying an additional 242,565 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Crown Castle Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of Crown Castle stock traded down $1.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $98.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,805,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,901,286. Crown Castle Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.20 and a 1-year high of $120.92. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The company has a market cap of $43.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09 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 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 analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. Crown Castle's revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is -39.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Argus upgraded Crown Castle to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Crown Castle in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research raised Crown Castle from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and cut their price target for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Daniel K. Schlanger sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.38, for a total transaction of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 110,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,762,542.98. This trade represents a 15.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was 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. This represents a 35.77% 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 valued at $3,362,752 over the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Crown Castle

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.