Stablepoint Partners LLC lifted its stake in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 32.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,693 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 14,399 shares during the period. Crown Castle accounts for approximately 1.1% of Stablepoint Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Stablepoint Partners LLC's holdings in Crown Castle were worth $6,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CCI. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth $561,714,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,499,455 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,672,451,000 after buying an additional 5,934,615 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,849,846 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,892,332,000 after buying an additional 3,321,249 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Crown Castle by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,793,842 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $525,849,000 after buying an additional 1,573,043 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Crown Castle during the fourth quarter worth about $95,167,000. 90.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research firms have weighed in on CCI. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James raised Crown Castle from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $128.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Crown Castle from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Argus raised Crown Castle to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Crown Castle from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.71.
Check Out Our Latest Report on CCI
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Crown Castle news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $850,960.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,183,563.36. This trade represents a 28.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $2,127,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,762,542.98. This represents a 15.32% decrease in their position. 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 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Crown Castle Stock Performance
Shares of Crown Castle stock traded up $0.05 on Monday, hitting $99.00. The stock had a trading volume of 2,643,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,900,254. The stock has a market cap of $43.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11 and a beta of 0.88. Crown Castle Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.20 and a twelve month high of $120.92. 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 business's 50 day moving average is $101.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.04.
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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.62). The company had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Crown Castle had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 18.59%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. Analysts forecast that Crown Castle Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.
Crown Castle Cuts Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.0625 per share. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Crown Castle's dividend payout ratio is currently -39.50%.
About Crown Castle
(
Free Report)
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.
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