Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Crown Castle Inc. $CCI

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group cut its Crown Castle stake by 4.3% in Q4 to 890,512 shares, worth about $79.14 million and representing roughly 0.20% of the company.
• Analysts have trimmed price targets recently, but consensus remains a Moderate Buy with an average target of $98.13.
• Crown Castle pays a quarterly dividend of $1.0625 (annualized $4.25) for a yield of about 4.9%, though the payout ratio is extremely high at 420.79%, raising sustainability concerns.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its position in Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI - Free Report) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 890,512 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 39,923 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.20% of Crown Castle worth $79,140,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CCI. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. bought a new position in Crown Castle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $737,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Crown Castle by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 692,656 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $61,556,000 after buying an additional 185,360 shares during the last quarter. Networth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth $142,000. Brookwood Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crown Castle in the fourth quarter worth $218,000. Finally, LDR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Crown Castle by 317.1% during the fourth quarter. LDR Capital Management LLC now owns 47,072 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,183,000 after acquiring an additional 35,787 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on CCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Crown Castle from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Crown Castle from $120.00 to $106.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Crown Castle from $97.00 to $91.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research decreased their target price on Crown Castle from $114.00 to $94.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on Crown Castle from $115.00 to $98.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $98.13.

Crown Castle Trading Down 0.9%

CCI opened at $86.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $85.75 and a 200 day moving average of $88.97. Crown Castle Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.96 and a 12 month high of $115.76. The firm has a market cap of $37.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.94.

Crown Castle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $1.0625 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $4.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Crown Castle's payout ratio is 420.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Edward B. Adams, Jr. sold 4,650 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total value of $401,481.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 25,183 shares in the company, valued at $2,174,300.22. This trade represents a 15.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert Sean Collins sold 3,000 shares of Crown Castle stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total transaction of $262,470.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $507,442. The trade was a 34.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Crown Castle

Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company's assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.